Credit crunch
Credit crunch set to hamper US lending
US growth could fall by up to 1.5 percentage points over the next year as a result of tighter borrowing conditions, a report prepared for the US Monetary Policy Forum has found. The report also estimates the losses on mortgage securities will total $400…
Assessing Australian asset-backed commercial paper
The reason for the superior performance of the Australian asset-backed commercial paper market compared with the United States lies in the specification of conduits, a Reserve Bank of Australia paper finds.
Stagflation problem for the Fed?
The Federal Reserve faces a problem that the United States has not seen for many years: stagflation.
Laurels for ECB from Germany's Merkel
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has praised the European Central Bank's (ECB) "very outstanding role" in dealing with the world financial crisis.
Liquidity pressures could return, says FSF report
Money-market tensions could yet re-emerge, a group of leading central bankers and policymakers warned on Monday.
Coordination was unprecedented, says Goodhart
The joint action by five of the world's leading monetary authorities was a move unprecedented in central banking, said Charles Goodhart, a former member of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee.
Loan approvals down, conditions tighten: Fed poll
Borrowers in the US face rising costs and tougher conditions for loans, a survey published by the Federal Reserve on Monday shows.
Six lessons from the recent turbulence
Hermann Remsperger, a member of the executive board at the Bundesbank, outlined the lessons that have emerged so far from the turmoil that has plagued financial markets since August.
Deputy confident Russia will withstand turmoil
The Russian finance industry will escape largely unscathed from the credit crunch, though lending conditions may get tighter, said Gennady Melikyan, a first deputy chairman at the Central Bank of Russia.
Crunch prompts Serbia to review reserves strategy
The National Bank of Serbia has shifted to a more conservative reserves policy in the wake of the credit crunch, Radovan Jelasic, the governor of the central bank said on Friday.
Japan keeps rates at 0.5%
The Bank of Japan's rate-setting board opted on Tuesday to hold rates at 0.5%.
Banking risks must be considered together
The impact of credit and interest rate risk, the two most important dangers faced by commercial banks, must be measured jointly, research published by the Bank of England finds.
France's Noyer: new rules for ratings agencies
Christian Noyer, the governor of the Banque de France, highlighted three areas in which the regulation of rating agencies needs to improve in the wake of the credit crunch.
Fed ready to act on worsening outlook: Bernanke
The Federal Reserve looks set to cut rates further after its chairman, Ben Bernanke, said central bank policy would look to counter the increasing risk of an economic slowdown.
Fed minutes reveal clear shift in outlook
The minutes of the December meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), published on Wednesday, reveal a more dovish Federal Reserve than was suggested at the time.
Regulators can't ensure clarity, only encourage it
In the wake of the credit crisis, central bankers and other financial regulators should use their clout to back the standardisation of financial instruments rather than trying to legislate for transparency, says Claire Jones, the editor of Central Bank…
BoE's Paul Tucker on global credit crunch
Paul Tucker, executive director for markets at the Bank of England and a member of the monetary policy committee, at a speech on Thursday, analysed the difficulties facing central banks in correctly diagnosing changes in credit conditions and asset…
Norges Bank - Financial Stability Report 2/2007
The Norwegian economy is expected to remain stable even though the turmoil in the money and credit markets will continue to hamper banks, the Bank of Norway's latest financial stability report says.
Pre-crunch poll supports Basel II stability claim
The introduction of the Basel II regulatory framework, which has faced a barrage of criticism in the wake of the credit crunch, will make the financial system sounder and encourage better risk management, according to a poll conducted the Professional…
EU and China agree measures on "severe" movements
A meeting between Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, and his Chinese counterpart, Zhou Xiaochuan, has resulted in the People's Bank of China saying it will co-operate with the EU to avoid "severe" fluctuations in exchange…
Mexico holds rates at 7.5%
The Bank of Mexico's rate-setting board voted on Friday to hold its benchmark rate at 7.5%.
US downturn's impact limited in East Africa
An economic slowdown in the United States would have ramifications for East Africa but many factors can limit its impact, says Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, the governor of the Bank of Uganda.
ECB to look to global economy on rate decisions
Global factors will increasingly influence European Central Bank (ECB) monetary policy decisions, Philippe Moutot, the director of monetary policy at the central bank, said on Tuesday.
UK will come out of this stronger: King
Britain will have the best regulatory regime in the world by mid-2008 as a result of the Northern Rock crisis, according to Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England.