Central Banking
Fed presidents clash over monetary policy
Presidents of the Federal Reserve banks of Kansas City and Minneapolis offer conflicting critiques of FOMC policy stance
Pakistan’s Anwar presents plan for financial system growth
Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan gives 10-point plan for growth in the financial system to boost the economy and improve the ‘potency’ of monetary policy
Bank of Korea foresees long road to recovery
Economic outlook report predicts sluggish narrowing of Korea’s negative output gap; central bank keeps rates on hold
Brazilian governor expects inflation drop
Alexandre Tombini says inflation spiked in last six months because of agricultural shocks, but it will resume a downward trend in 2013
Kenyan interest rate continues to plummet
Benchmark interest rate nearly halved since September; latest cut intended to increase uptake of expanding private sector credit
BoJ formally asked to double inflation target
Japanese government pressures Bank of Japan to increase short-run inflation target to 2%; no action likely before next monetary policy meeting on January 21–22
Central Bank of Cyprus defends re-hirings
Central bank employs three members of staff who had previously taken early retirement; defends decision as beneficial in ‘special circumstances’
Singapore authority seeks to cut banknote waste in new year celebrations
Monetary Authority of Singapore urges public to consider using good-as-new banknotes for traditional hong bao new year's gifts to prevent the unnecessary printing of 50 million notes
Draghi denies calls for rate cut as ECB holds again
European Central Bank's governing council holds rate, as inflation and growth remain steady; Mario Draghi optimistic about growing financial market confidence
Banks told they will not benefit from LCR delay
National supervisors tell banks not to lower liquidity buffers, with market forces also pushing banks towards 100% compliance with measure
UK statistics office to keep 'unsuitable' inflation measure
The UK Office for National Statistics will not change how it calculates RPI inflation – but will initiate an alternative index in parallel
IMF paper identifies trends in fiscal profligacy
Working paper analyses dataset of countries’ fiscal performance over time, finding an imperfect response to changes in the underlying economy
Fed’s Lacker issues warning on bloated balance sheet
Jeffrey Lacker says latest round of quantitative easing is unlikely to give a significant boost to the economy and will ‘test the limits of our credibility’
Bank of Zambia mounts charge on financial education
Central bank hopes to create financially educated population by 2030 and provide Zambians with tools to secure ‘positive financial outcomes’ for their families
Portugal's Costa demands greater European co-ordination
Bank of Portugal governor says individual countries’ adjustment programmes alone are not enough to boost Europe’s growth potential
Brazil increases gold holdings by 90% in three months
Central Bank of Brazil adds 31.9 tonnes of gold to its reserves between September and November; could indicate a desire to diversify away from the dollar
Recommendation due on UK RPI calculation consultation
The UK's Office for National Statistics will make its recommendation tomorrow morning over whether and how to change how it calculates the Retail Prices Index
Bank of Spain executives hit back at negligence claims
Executive commission rebuts claims made in a leaked internal report that the central bank’s supervisory department tended to ‘look the other way’ when there were signs of criminal activity
Irish governor bemoans sustained large sovereign spread
Patrick Honohan says the cost of Ireland’s funding still reflects a credit risk premium; Government’s €2.5 billion bond issuance met by ‘strong’ investor response
India extends Basel III timetable to let banks raise capital
Decision to push back Basel III implementation motivated by capital concerns, say market sources
French paper warns of forward guidance perils
Study published by Banque de France says efficient communication to an inattentive audience can only be achieved if supported by effective monetary policy
PBoC’s Zhou promises more 'opening up' in 2013
Zhou Xiaochuan suggests the PBoC will make greater efforts in 2013 towards deepening financial reforms and ‘opening up’
Bank of Korea warns of forthcoming credit tightening
Bank lending survey finds a recent trend of credit easing is likely to be reversed in the first quarter of 2013; credit risk expected to run at ‘high levels’
IMF paper urges greater macroprudential standards for CCP risk buffers
Study published by IMF seeks to eliminate regulatory arbitrage between banks and CCPs' prudential standards