Euro
Estonia on the lookout for dud euro notes
Bank of Estonia begins training staff from commercial banks and larger retailers to spot fake euro banknotes
Ratings agencies blindly mimic market jitters: Noyer
Banque de France governor becomes latest euro-area official to slam credit rating agencies for worsening debt crisis; remarks follow Spain’s second downgrade in two months
Hungary defies government calls for cuts
National Bank of Hungary keeps benchmark rate flat at all-time low; decision will further anger new government, which has called for steeper cuts and easy money
ECB insists eurozone bonds decision was its own
Political pressure played no part in ECB decision to buy bonds, says board member
Hungary’s Simor tells critical government to curb debt
National Bank of Hungary governor András Simor says high external and government debt levels must be corrected; central bank adds that growth cannot be financed through foreign borrowing anymore
Market puzzled by Bafin ban
Traders incredulous as Bafin acts unilaterally to calm “extraordinary volatility”
Interview: Peter Praet
Fortis’s collapse all too well illustrated the difficulties in saving cross-border European banks. But the ideal solution, a European crisis resolution authority, remains a distant dream. However, there is an existing, yet perhaps unusual, candidate from…
Emerging Europe keen on euro despite Greek debt woe
Central and Eastern European countries remain drawn to the single currency despite Greek troubles
Czech fury at ECB negative capital view
Czech central bank objects to ECB's denigration of negative capital in its Convergence Report
UK coalition gives Bank lead regulatory role
Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties agree to put Bank of England at the centre of financial regulation on Wednesday, stop short of abolishing FSA
Estonia poised for euro entry, exports lead recovery
Bank of Estonia sees output helped by export upswing the day before Brussels decides on euro accession
SNB’s Hildebrand vows to fight franc appreciation
Swiss National Bank chief Philipp Hildebrand says the eurozone’s debt troubles will not be allowed to trigger deflation in Switzerland
Trichet: economic, not monetary, reform of EMU necessary
ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet calls for broader economic reforms to mend Europe’s Economic Monetary Union (EMU)
Initial optimism on Greek bailout may falter
Marco Annunziata, the chief economist at UniCredit, examines the reaction to, and implications of, the Greek bailout
Skrzypek warns Poland against adopting the euro in final remarks
An article written by late president of the National Bank of Poland Slawomir Skrzypek warns against a premature euro entry, his death on Saturday may have implications on the central bank's stance on the single currency
Greece’s $40 billion bailout an improvement, but issues remain
Markets soothed as firm details of Greek rescue plan are announced, eurozone will provide €30 billion at discounted 5% rate for year forward, analysts less convinced
ECB: German bonds the European safe-haven
ECB paper shows investors sought refuge in German bonds as crisis struck
Trichet: credit agencies essential
In reply to a question from MEP Nikolaos Chountis, Jean-Claude Trichet highlights the importance of rating agencies
Likely euro adoption puts Estonia on positive watch
Fitch Ratings predicts Estonia will join Euro after Tallinn publishes debt figures
Central banks, not debt will kill growth: economist
Independent economist Roger Nightingale charges that debt on its own is not incompatible with growth, but raising rates will kill growth
The end is nigh for the eurozone over Greece
Economists Geoffrey Wood and Charles Dumas say the Greek debt crisis is set to tear asunder Europe’s poorly built Economic and Monetary Union, split over IMF bailout
Euro should not covet reserve role
Panellists in CentralBanking.com web seminar say becoming a reserve currency would hamper recovery
SNB’s Danthine denies franc float claims
Swiss National Bank governing board member Jean-Pierre Danthine denies his remarks hint at plans to float the Swiss franc
IMF highlights risks of FX swaps
IMF paper finds that the use of foreign exchange (FX) swaps for funding and hedging purposes is not as infallible as previously thought, especially in periods of market stress