US dollar
Ecuador presidential election makes central bank reform likely
President-elect favours measure granting autonomy to central bank
Central Banking Awards 2021: final winners unveiled
Awards announced for central bank of the year, economics, risk management and more
Central bank of the year: The Federal Reserve System
Overwhelming Fed interventions in March 2020 forestalled a damaging global financial crisis, as policy overhaul prompts introspection in Europe and Japan
Economics in central banking: ‘Patterns in invoicing currency in global trade’, Emine Boz, Camila Casas, Georgios Georgiadis, Gita Gopinath, Helena Le Mezo, Arnaud Mehl and Tra Nguyen
An extensive data-gathering exercise allowed the authors to shed new light on critical aspects of policy-making in a globalised world, while clearing a path for other researchers to follow
Financial market infrastructure services: Bloomberg
Bloomberg’s responsive deployment of new liquidity capabilities helped emerging-market central banks cope with pandemic market disruption
Lifetime achievement: Charles Goodhart
The LSE and BoE veteran economist has his own ‘law’, and played a key role in the establishment of monetary policy in the UK, Hong Kong’s peg and the ‘New Zealand model’, which influenced a generation of central bankers
IMF delays SDR valuation review
Delay reflects priority placed on Covid-19 response and possible clash with other workstream
Governor of the year: Alejandro Díaz de León
Díaz de León has upheld the authority, integrity and independence of the Bank of Mexico against significant external and internal pressures
Riksbank renews Covid-19 lending facilities
Riksbank extends $60 billion facility and will penalise banks that do not lend to non-financial firms
BoE to consult on Sonia clearing mandate
Long-dated Sonia swaps set to lose clearing exemption as liquidity shifts from Libor
Brazil ramps up FX interventions to defend real
Governor Campos Neto says fall “is not justified by fundamentals”
Central Bank of Argentina calls for investigation of IMF agreement
Fund granted South American economy over $57 billion in 2018, its largest-ever package
Stablecoin issuer agrees to settle lawsuit over ‘deceptive’ trading practices
New York attorney general accuses Tether of lying about the backing of its crypto asset with US dollars
ECB profit falls by 30% in 2020
Decrease is mainly due to lower Treasury yields reducing income on dollar portfolio
Book notes: The political economy of the special relationship, by Jeremy Green
Unsatisfactory story about the decline and resurgence of the UK’s importance in the global financial system
Bank of Mexico moves to counter controversial cash law
Financial inclusion proposal follows draft legislation to make central bank buy up spare US dollar cash
Ulrich Bindseil on the launch of the digital euro
The ECB’s director-general for market infrastructure and payments speaks about the functionality, tiering approaches, privacy policies, ledger technology and ecosystem impact of the eurozone's planned CBDC
Riksbank extends swap agreement with Fed
$60 billion line set up in response to Covid-19 extended until end of September 2021
Mexican president seems to make U-turn on central bank law
Bank of Mexico says draft cash law would endanger its independence
Bank of Israel announces major increase in FX interventions
Central bank announces FX spend in advance for first time and pledges 40% increase
Book notes: The currency cold war, by David Birch
Pleasant and interesting read on whether digital money will jeopardise the US dollar’s dominant role in global trade and finance
US Fed facility bought Libor bonds with ‘weak’ fallbacks
Industry figures express surprise over purchases linked to doomed benchmark
Bank of Lithuania paper explores spillovers of US policy uncertainty
Authors find “significant recessionary and deflationary effect” and synchronous response worldwide
Bank of Israel increases FX interventions to tame shekel
Central bank’s foreign reserves reach new record level