Eurozone
Bank of Israel’s outgoing chief, Stanley Fischer, on the challenges of central banking
Stanley Fischer believes his work as governor of the Bank of Israel is done. He tells Chris Jeffery about the reform process in Israel as well as the challenges facing the world economy and the IMF
Croatian governor cautious over banking union
Boris Vujčić says Croatia will adopt the euro "as soon as possible" after it joins the European Union next month; raises concerns over banking union and ECB’s lack of supervisory experience
Bank of Spain says slump reached ‘nadir’ in 2012
Annual report says recovery is in progress and should continue this year, but depends crucially on continued internal adjustments and the external setting
Bank of Greece report optimistic that banking sector has ‘weathered the storm’
Monetary policy report for 2012-13 says confidence is gradually returning as banks make repairs, deficits are reduced and the stabilisation programme remains ‘well on track’
ECB links ‘fragile’ financial stability to weak macroeconomy
Latest financial stability review says stress has ‘fallen markedly’ but vulnerabilities persist; ECB is most concerned about the impact of a further decline in bank profitability
Fed’s Bullard recommends QE for ECB's next move
St Louis Fed president and FOMC voter says quantitative easing has worked in the US and Japan, and could be made to work in Europe on a GDP-weighted basis
ECB’s head of financial stability says SSM is not enough
Ignazio Angeloni says banking union will be ‘decisive’ in restoring stability to the eurozone, but the single supervisory mechanism will not be sufficient on its own
Central Bank of Ireland annual report sees assets drop and profits rise
Recovery in Irish economy in 2012 led to lower reliance on US dollar liquidity and continued increase in central bank profits; governor urges continued commitment from external stakeholders
ECB says ‘difficult to do more’ as pressure mounts for more action
Further deterioration in eurozone data leads some to predict ECB rate cut at May meeting and possible SME ‘support package’; ECB executives signal action still unlikely
ECB’s Cœuré says cashless society is neither likely nor desirable
Executive board member believes cash is too popular to phase out, but should be made more efficient; €5 note awareness campaign shows mixed results
Bank of Italy research finds evidence of investors ‘waking up’ to sovereign risk
Working paper suggests widening eurozone sovereign spreads caused by ‘complacent’ investors suddenly paying closer attention to risks
NY Fed president dispenses policy advice to European and US governments
William Dudley tells European policy-makers that moving forward with banking union is critical, while the US government should be worrying more about its fiscal outlook
ECB’s Asmussen deflects criticism over lack of monetary policy action
ECB executive board member says quantitative easing would not work well applied to Europe; stresses continued political commitment to banking union
Netherlands Bank highlights ‘major risk’ of European crisis escalating
Financial stability report says danger from European debt crisis still looms large; warns of longer-term risks including addiction to low interest rates and incomplete banking union
Eurozone problems still ‘looming large’, says Draghi
ECB president Mario Draghi says ECB’s policy not affecting all eurozone countries; central bank cannot tackle root causes of crisis and urges improved competitiveness
Ireland’s financial regulator quits central bank
Deputy governor for financial regulation announces departure to ‘pursue other interests’; term spanned turbulent period for Ireland’s economy
Bank of Spain reshapes supervisor to meet new demands
Banking supervision directorate restructured to meet the requirements of Spain’s memorandum of understanding and the move to European banking union
ECB threatens to cut off liquidity support to Cyprus
Governing council says no more emergency liquidity will be provided to Cypriot banks if a deal is not reached by Monday; negotiations continue and banks will remain closed into next week
Sepa migration at risk due to poor preparedness, says ECB
First progress report expresses alarm at some companies planning to migrate very close to deadline; payments could be disrupted if deadline missed, but Benoît Cœuré says ‘there is no plan B’
Dombret warns national banking systems are too-big-to-fail
Bundesbank’s Andreas Dombret says too-big-to-fail problem extends to whole banking systems; says some eurozone systems could have to be downsized
Central Bank of Cyprus governor tells government to scrap small-depositor levy
Panicos Demetriades says government should apply heavier haircut to depositors above €100,000 threshold and spare those below; predicts run when banks re-open on Thursday
T2S chief warns regulatory inaction could damage harmonisation process
Jean-Michel Godeffroy says CSD regulation must be passed this year to avoid harmonisation delays; conference panellists raise concerns over costs, limited participation and financial transaction tax
Robert Pringle’s Viewpoint: Wider lessons of the Cyprus bail-out
The clumsy attempts to resolve a banking crisis in Cyprus underline the need to make more rapid progress on wider issues afflicting much larger financial markets in Europe