Eurozone
Croatia and Bulgaria join ECB’s exchange rate mechanism
Both countries move closer to eurozone membership as largest Croatian banks come under SSM
Peter Praet on Europe’s Covid-19 responses
The former ECB chief economist talks about threats to financial stability, negative rates, common debt issuance and steps to improve the EMU
UK firms must prepare for Brexit risks – FCA
EU and UK have yet to agree on equivalence, senior official warns
Coronavirus panic fuels a surge in cash demand
Covid-19 has led to banknote hoarding in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the eurozone, Russia and the US, fuelled by concerns about financial system stress, write Jonathan Ashworth and Charles Goodhart
Portuguese PM nominates Centeno as next central bank governor
Opposition lawmakers’ bid to block highly rated ex-finance minister seems likely to fail
Trends in reserve management: 2020 survey results
Covid-19 expected to dent the risk appetite of central bank portfolio managers; socially responsible investing gains ground
Appetite for renewed Fed dollar swap lines in doubt
With up to $300bn of positions nearing expiry, some say FX swap market can meet banks’ funding needs
ECB and Romanian central bank set up repo swap line
Romanian currency has fallen in recent months as central bank lowers rates in response to pandemic
Central banking enters a new era
Central banks face a delicate balancing act to preserve their reputations as they evolve into ‘buyers of last resort’ and some of their actions appear functionally equivalent to ‘monetary financing’
DNB paper says eurozone investment-saving curve flatter in recent years
Persistently low interest rates in eurozone appear to have weakened monetary policy – researchers
The complex art of reserve management
The coronavirus lockdown represents another inflection point for central banks seeking to optimise the management of their $12 trillion in FX reserves
French governor says ECB could directly fund loans
Villeroy de Galhau also calls for flexible emergency purchases but rules out yield curve control
Lagarde welcomes Franco-German fund plan
Covid-19 response fund would be drawn from common EU budget
The ECB, the lockdown and the monetary financing lock
The eurozone’s central bank may need to break its prohibition on monetary financing to fight the pandemic
German court rules ECB must provide more evidence on PSPP
Judges strongly criticise ECJ’s ruling on QE programme, but stop short of declaring it unlawful
Debts, deficits, central banks and inflation
Forrest Capie and Geoffrey Wood ask what insights history can provide for central banks and governments managing abrupt, large increases in debt
ECB publishes framework for assessing prudential spillovers
Detailed paper aims to help regulators assess cross-border effects of macro-prudential policies
Joining banking union likely positive for Sweden – Riksbank
Banks’ large cross border activities mean common supervisory and resolution mechanisms are better than national equivalents
Most eurozone states experience fiscal spillovers – ECB paper
Eurozone fiscal policy may be especially effective when rate changes have little impact, paper says
Book notes: Crisis spaces, by Costis Hadjimichalis
“Don’t buy this book, unless you are a dedicated Marxist”
People: Sarb and BoE renew senior appointments
Senior Sarb and BoE officials receive new terms; MAS picks new assistant managing director; ECB appoints director; William Dudley takes consulting job
Dutch former governor attacks PM for blocking eurobond
Nout Wellink says Netherlands must prevent further debt crisis in Southern European countries
ECB paper looks at euro exchange rate shocks
Exogenous exchange rate shocks having more impact on eurozone inflation, researchers find
Fed expands network of swaps to emerging markets
Emerging markets will now have direct access to a dollar backstop, but it is still limited