Feature/Financial Stability
The case for symmetrical monetary policy and its role in the new financial architecture
Central banks should adopt a more symmetrical approach to monetary policy in supporting financial stability. Bernd Braasch discusses how such an approach can best be implemented amid the jumble of policy strands competing for officials’ attention
Avoiding group think and conflicts of interest: widening the circle of central bank advice
Central banks may better serve the public by calling on a broader group of economists for advice, Gerald Epstein and Jessica Carrick-Hagenbarth believe
Reform of the international monetary system: a modest proposal
Richard N. Cooper presents an idea to enhance the stability of the international monetary regime
The whys and hows of CoCo issuance
There is much support for contingent capital, or CoCos, among regulators and economists. However, officials, bankers and investors alike are unsure what should serve as the trigger to turn debt into equity. Here, Charles Calomiris and Richard Herring…
The three-trillion-dollar question
Keen to assert its monetary autonomy, the People’s Bank of China is locked in a tussle with the finance ministry to determine how the country’s excess reserves are managed
Ganbaro Nippon!
Robert Pringle reports from Tokyo on the Bank of Japan’s response to the Great East Japan Earthquake
A retail ring-fence for the UK
Robert Pringle and Hugh Sandeman analyse the Independent Commission on Banking’s interim report
The collateral squeeze of 2008
William Allen and Richhild Moessner analyse data from US commercial banks and Morgan Stanley in the months surrounding Lehman Brothers’ collapse
The dangers of relying on point in time
With Basel III, regulators have a chance to improve models used by banks to manage risk. However, they risk repeating past mistakes, says Patricia Jackson
Liquidity regulation and its consequences
The Basel Committee’s proposals for liquidity buffers could have some dangerous side effects, William Allen warns
The People’s Bank of China’s battle on two fronts
Events both at home and abroad have kept China’s central bank busy in recent months. Hui Feng reports.
Explaining the crisis and informing the future
Frank Vibert examines how analyses of the fundamental causes of the financial crisis are shaping the policy debate
The euro funding gap and its consequences
The crisis has highlighted that the euro is far from a true reserve currency. That has worrying implications, argue Annina Kaltenbrunner, Duncan Lindo, Juan Pablo Painceira and Alexis Stenfors
Data and the crisis: gaps, initiatives and challenges
The crisis has highlighted a number of holes in financial data. Much has already done to plug them, writes Alfredo Leone.
Underpinning systemic stability - the case for standards
Measures designed to make the financial system safer may not achieve their aim. There is a better way, Sir Andrew Large and Sir David Walker argue
The StabFund: a look at the inner workings of a 'bad bank'
Marcel Zimmermann and Zoltan Szelyes explain how the Swiss National Bank managed to strengthen the country’s largest financial institution at the height of the crisis by creating a bad bank.
Communicating macroprudential policy
A sound communications strategy can enhance the impact of macroprudential policy actions and build the political support needed for such steps, Tim Ng writes
The unintended consequences of the new prudential framework
The new regulatory code could have some dangerous side effects, Jacques de Larosière writes
Conflicts of interest and systemic risk
In regulating against conflicts of interest, central bankers will have to study exactly how each major bank is making its profits in future, John Chown argues
Are CoCos from cloud cuckoo-land?
The rationale for requiring banks to hold contingent capital is right. However, the mechanics of their operation and market implications may be subject to doubt, argues Charles Goodhart.
Welcome to Twin Peaks
The decision by the British government to adopt the Twin Peaks model of financial regulation represents a significant turnaround in the Bank of England’s political fortunes, writes Michael Taylor.
Tokyo story
Robert Pringle reports from Tokyo on how the crisis has impacted Japan’s outlook.
Why monetary base control can offer stability
There is a way of replicating the big achievements of the gold standard without going back to gold, argue Brendan Brown and Robert Pringle.
Preventing system failure
A model borrowed from ecology offers new insights for policymakers in how to understand and combat systemic risk, writes Claire Jones.