Eurozone
Bundesbank paper looks at cross-border cycles in six European economies
Equity prices and interest rates more strongly synchronised than real economic activity – researchers
European Commission proposes uniform cost for trans-EU euro payments
Dombrovskis also calls for EU-wide transparency on currency conversions
Lagarde proposes new European fiscal fund
The mechanism would reduce reliance on monetary policy to respond to future crises
New South African president supports pan-African currency
Cyril Ramaphosa says it is time Africa abandons “colonial mentality” and adopts common currency to foster investment and intra-African trade
ECB largely supports Commission’s proposals for ESRB
ECB president would become ex officio head of systemic risk body
Norway lowers inflation target and changes policy mandate
The new mandate emphasises the need for high employment and financial stability
ECB’s Mersch urges caution on regulatory sandboxes
The ECB board member is “not sure we have the right answers yet”
Solving the owner-occupied housing puzzle
A group of researchers has outlined what they see as a better method of integrating owner-occupied housing into the CPI, as the EU’s statistical agency wrestles with the problem
Some ECB governing council members wanted softer QE language – minutes
Governing council members also cautious over future exchange rate movements
Ireland withdraws Lane’s nomination for ECB vice president
Spain’s de Guindos likely to take up role, but Irish may suggest Lane for the chief economist post
BIS paper uses ‘shadow rate’ to study market expectations
Fan Dora Xia and Jing Cynthia Wu find they can estimate expectations over a longer horizon by using a shadow rate term structure model
Credit constraints hits smaller eurozone firms’ investment – Spanish paper
Researcher finds credit constraints have less impact on working capital and growth
Eurozone needs structural reforms to realign real exchange rates – Italian paper
Real exchange rate misalignments persist for longer in eurozone, researchers say
European authorities warn of dangers in cryptocurrency markets
Spanish and Dutch central banks warn of “misleading” data and unregulated markets
Banks running out of time to make post-Brexit eurozone applications
Banks looking to relocate should apply “by the end of the second quarter” – ECB supervisor Lautenschläger
CCP stress tests have found capital shortfalls – Esma
Small increases to stress-test scenarios would have left ICE Clear Europe “in material breach”
Cœuré: ‘three lines of defence’ needed to protect ECB
The ECB executive board member says without reforms the ECB may end up having to “test the limits of its mandate”
Ireland nominates Lane for ECB vice-presidency
Irish governor has a track record as academic economist and senior ESRB figure
Inflation falls in the euro area despite stronger growth
Annual price increases expected to fall to 1.3% in January, Eurostat says
Sovereign bond-backed securities could improve eurozone stability – ESRB
Regulations would need to change and treatment of sovereign bonds would be vital, argues Central Bank of Ireland Governor
ESM hails Greece’s progress in third bailout
The country should exit the programme in August as growth accelerates and bond yields fall
Bundesbank panellists call for change in German ‘mindset’
Mario Monti says he would like to free Germans from their economic “straightjacket”, while Benoît Cœuré hints at need for rebalancing
Auditors find ‘flaws’ in ECB’s crisis management framework
ECB must improve co-ordination with SRB and national supervisors – report
Eurozone countries’ manufacturing sectors are diverging, Italian paper finds
Manufacturing profits rise relative to non-tradables in Germany and Spain, but fall in France and Italy