Solvency
The Covid crisis, central banks and the future
Crisis responses have had positive initial outcomes, but also exacerbated significant underlying challenges that raise concerns related to exit strategies and the future for central banks
Former RBI official Rabi Mishra on macro-pru in the post-Covid world
The former executive director discusses challenges for supervision, global governance reform and the rise of fintech
Monetary-fiscal policy co-operation and the ‘slippery slope’
Barry Eichengreen assesses the risks central banks face from their closer links to fiscal policy
EBA wants Basel to revisit prudential rules on software
Banking regulator set to soften capital impact of IT assets, but proposals are still out of line with US
Banking sector resilience ‘likely to be tested’ – IMF’s Adrian
Fund’s stability report says vulnerabilities are high and rising, creating difficult policy choices
Estimating the cost of a pandemic grant for the world’s poorest economies
The cost of support measures for vulnerable economies is manageable, says Steve Kamin, but political leadership may be lacking
BIS warns of gap between market valuations and reality
Corporate credit spreads have tightened, despite what the BIS sees as a looming solvency crisis
BIS paper studies lifecycle of zombie companies
Number of zombie firms has risen substantially, and their future prospects are not good, authors say
Emerging markets face ‘uphill battle’ against pandemic – IMF staff
EME countries face limited fiscal space and possible solvency crisis, warn researchers
IMF lifts limits on financial support facilities
Decision provoked debate among board members on whether fund should be taking additional risk
The evolving role of central bank money in payments
The line between commercial and central bank money continues to blur, but the multiple-issuer/one-currency paradigm underpinning the current monetary system is set to remain in a CBDC world, write Ulrich Bindseil and Ignacio Terol
BIS warns of further shockwaves in ‘generation-defining’ crisis
Solvency crisis is looming on the horizon and health crisis is far from over, BIS officials say, as they present the 2020 annual report
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’
Beware of capital: much ado about nothing?
Capital increases can be offset by asset valuation, provision and income recognition forbearance
The dawn of a safer and sounder European banking sector
Implementation of two pillars of banking union has led to significant improvements in the safety and soundness of the European banking system
Ghana’s Addison on banking reform, innovation and the future of the eco
The Bank of Ghana governor speaks about the next steps in banking reform and why West Africa may need more time to start using a common currency
Why Bulgaria needs to deepen its currency board
The BNB’s currency board rules should be extended to transaction deposits at commercial banks, which could in turn issue digital currencies, even in the event of euro adoption
Stability versus solvency
There is still far too much regulatory forbearance on troubled bank debt. More on-site inspections and genuine writedowns are needed to fix the banking system
BoE paper highlights non-linearities in bank funding and solvency
Results could be important consideration in stress-test design, authors say
Central bank of the year: Bank of Ghana
The African central bank has carried out extensive reform of Ghana’s banking sector
The twilight of banking supervision
Supervision of banks in Europe has deteriorated, rather than improved, since the advent of the eurozone crisis
Data overhaul needed to enhance insolvency frameworks – IMF
Paper highlights the importance of data in analysing efficiency of current resolution policies
Supervisory lessons: resolution is a ‘dirty business’
Former Bank of Spain head of supervision Aristóbulo de Juan reveals his principles for resolving problem banks in the final article of a four-part series
Ghana’s Addison blames predecessors for banking system weaknesses
New governor closed seven banks in 12 months in banking system clean up