Central Banking
Riksbank predicts ‘elimination’ of retail payments competition
Sweden’s retail payments market is expanding but Sveriges Riksbank says larger players will prevail and smaller companies ‘will be eliminated’
RBA research analyses factors driving US credit crunch
Working paper finds shutdown of the securitisation market explains a ‘significant share’ of the credit tightening in the US in the run-up to the global financial crisis
Fischer gives high marks to Bernanke and Draghi
Outgoing Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer believes the world owes a great debt to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and praises ECB president Mario Draghi; says Israel can live with side effects of QE
Draghi and Carstens step up at BIS as King retires
Mervyn King's retirement as governor of the Bank of England has created three chair positions on BIS committees that will be filled by the heads of the ECB and the Bank of Mexico
Price stability ‘pivotal’ in shaping exchange rate pressures
Bank of Finland discussion paper analyses pressure on exchange rates during financial crisis; says countries that experienced high inflation beforehand were hardest hit
Colombian paper draws policy lessons from credit- and business-cycle links
Researchers find lagged response of growth to the credit cycle, making it challenging for policy-makers to target both financial and real variables with a single instrument
Paper examines roster of RMB bilateral swap partners
BOFIT researchers find the list of countries signing a swap agreement with China is determined by a range of factors - and suggest the agreements are not used as a ‘soft power' political tool
Brazilian currency must adapt to 'new reality', says deputy governor
Talk of an end to Fed QE is creating a 'new reality' for other currencies, as capital begins to flow back to the US; BCB will intervene if it sees the real diverging from a basket of currencies
HKMA and RBA voice fears over Iosco benchmark proposals
Responses to Iosco's Principles for Financial Benchmarks reveal concerns that many markets will not be able to support transactions-based rates; RBA questions 'lexicographic hierarchy'
Croatian governor cautious over banking union
Boris Vujčić says Croatia will adopt the euro "as soon as possible" after it joins the European Union next month; raises concerns over banking union and ECB’s lack of supervisory experience
People: Poloz takes over from Carney; Hristov returns from Bulgarian parliament
Stephen Poloz starts term as Bank of Canada governor; Bulgarian deputy resumes duties; Bermuda Monetary Authority shuffles management for ‘greater supervisory effectiveness’; and more
Caruana warns of yield curve 'global steepening'
BIS general manager Jaime Caruana says central banks must consider the effect on global bond markets of rising rates and shrinking balance sheets
Fischer urges peace in the Middle East
Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer tells state finance committee to find ‘partners for peace’; endorses high defence spending in state budget
MAS deputy highlights Singapore's growing links with the Middle East
Monetary Authority of Singapore's Lim Hng Kiang says cross-border Islamic transactions ‘set to take off’ as more Middle Eastern banks open in Singapore; growth potential ‘yet to be fully realised’
BoE’s Bailey sets out limits to central bank SME support
Andrew Bailey says central bank schemes such as funding for lending are restricted due to the presence of structural market failures
MBS offer portfolio benefits for some central banks, say CBP panellists
Mortgage-backed securities may offer reserve managers a higher yield and diversification benefits for their foreign currency holdings, according to panellists in a new Central Banking On Air debate
Pianalto says financial regulation should learn from monetary policy transparency
Financial regulation can benefit in the same way as monetary policy has from transparency and forward guidance, says Cleveland Fed president Sandra Pianalto
Policy-maker prudence can't help early warning efficacy, IMF paper finds
Working paper finds parametric early-warning systems are preferable to non-parametric; greater prudence lets policy-makers call more crisis episodes correctly, but at the cost of more false alarms
BoE reveals £300 million drop in FLS lending
Banks participating in FLS scheme reduced their net lending by £300 million in the first quarter of 2013; Bank of England predicts ‘gradual’ increase throughout year
IMF prescribes faster eurozone progress for both Spain and Germany
IMF teams report progress being made in both Spain and Germany, though sluggish progress on banking union could stop both economies from bouncing back more quickly
French paper evaluates forecasting strategies
Working paper says a predictive model that combines information sets is capable of outperforming alternative models that combine forecasts; tests models on French GDP data
Kansas City Fed article finds markets anticipated QE announcements
Article in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s latest economic review says that markets foreshadowed changes in asset purchase programme; may have affected long-term interest rates
BIS warns central bank easing is fuelling equity markets
The latest quarterly review released by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) finds that markets are ‘under the spell’ of central banks
ECB's Cœuré says international liquidity must be allowed to flow
The risks from financial protectionism outweigh those of negative spillovers that currently dominate the global debate, argues ECB executive board member Benoît Cœuré