Central Banking
Asmussen and Rehn sketch plans for European body to replace ‘troika'
ECB board member defends scale of emergency liquidity extended to ‘insolvent' Cypriot banks; confirms the bank has an open mind on ABS purchases to ease SME credit crunch
Mersch lists monetary policy dos and don'ts
ECB board member tells Luxembourg audience monetary policy should take responsibility for ‘averting Armageddon', but there are limits to what it can do
Korea paper warns developing economies over financial openness
Research suggests open capital markets in developing economies create output volatility; suggests Asian countries are the least stable in a crisis
RBI sees scope for Giro payments system
Committee finds India’s existing payments system fails to meet consumers’ needs when paying bills; proposes a supplementary system to move bill paying onto a single interoperable platform
Taiwan central bank chief sets out priorities for new ADB president
Fai-Nan Perng says new Asian Development Bank head must build on the successes and correct the failings of the institution
Bundesbank paper finds some banks can improve stability via income diversification
Discussion paper says move into non-interest income sources stabilises smaller and more retail-orientated banks, but destabilises investment banks
Philippines central bank braces for impact of rating upgrades
Central bank says it is ‘vigilant’ to asset bubbles resulting from country’s upgrade to investment grade status by two of the three main rating agencies
Former BoE policy-makers demand action from Mark Carney
John Gieve says Carney is likely to introduce conditional forward guidance and expand QE; Rachel Lomax backs FPC remit that requires a “consistent message” among its members
RBNZ intervenes in forex and hits bank capital
Central bank boosts mortgage lending capital requirements and sells New Zealand dollars to ‘take the tops off rallies’; economy faces low inflation but strong dollar and overheating housing market
UK regulator right to retain flexibility to force changes on internal models
Head of the PRA plans to use early warning indicators in supervisory work, notwithstanding the risk of EU challenge
IMF paper examines emerging market counter-cyclical monetary policy
Emerging markets should target inflation for its counter-cyclical benefits as well as output variability, researchers find
European Commissioner defends under-fire Tobin tax
Algirdas Šemeta says the European Commission’s proposal for a financial transactions tax is ‘technically and legally sound’; numerous stakeholders concerned by impact on repo markets
Dijsselbloem defends Eurogroup over Cyprus bail-in plan
Eurogroup president fields questions from European Parliament and defends the original Cyprus plan; refuses to name names over who proposed levy on smaller depositors
Bank of Estonia scraps new payments system
Plans for new interbank retail payments system are dropped due to a lack of popularity among commercial banks; hunt for a set-up compliant with Sepa requirements continues
ECB’s head of financial stability says SSM is not enough
Ignazio Angeloni says banking union will be ‘decisive’ in restoring stability to the eurozone, but the single supervisory mechanism will not be sufficient on its own
Fed’s Tarullo says wholesale funding is the most important gap in regulation
Fed governor warns regulation does not yet adequately address vulnerabilities in the financial system, citing wholesale funding and ending too-big-to-fail as particular problems
Liikanen adds voice to defenders of central bank independence
Bank of Finland governor calls value of central bank independence a ‘lasting lesson’ of recent decades; cautions that both fiscal and financial dominance represent threats
ECB paper models central bank liquidity provision
Researchers create model to find optimal level of central bank liquidity provision, by determining the most appropriate collateral framework
RBA cuts rates to record low
Central bank seeks to encourage rebalancing of demand as mining investment heads for peak; analysts see further rate cuts on the horizon
Weidmann: Eurosystem has 'stretched its mandate' to contain crisis
Bundesbank president says mismatch of control and liability is diminishing the responsibility of individual states and transferring the consequences of failure onto the European community
ECB’s Cœuré says it is time to think about exit from unconventional policies
Executive board member says time is not yet right to start withdrawing extra liquidity provision, but such policies cannot be kept in place forever
UK’s FCA faces serious challenges in meeting competition objective, survey warns
Industry survey highlights ‘scale of challenge’ for conduct regulator in promoting competition; says many measures taken so far may actually be anti-competitive
RBI cuts interest rate, while eyeing lower inflation
The Reserve Bank of India reduces benchmark interest rate for third time in 2013 to 7%; says there is ‘little space’ for further easing
Bank of Canada names Stephen Poloz as governor
The CEO of Export Development Canada Stephen Poloz is a surprise pick to replace Mark Carney; governor designate backs existing monetary policy framework and says inflation target is ‘sacrosanct’