Opinion/Financial Stability
A solution to the reserves riddle
There has been an anomaly between what is in the national interest and what is in the global interest on the issue of reserves. However, this does not have to be so.
A proposal to aid emerging-market stability
Ousmene Mandeng, the head of public sector investment advisory at Ashmore, an asset management firm, believes there is a more efficient way for emerging market central banks to use their reserves to stave off a disorderly unwinding of their capital…
Cooperation between leaders and banks essential
As the world responds to financial and economic turmoil, the industry and authorities must work together as never before, says Angela Knight, the chief executive of the British Bankers' Association (BBA).
How the US can abate anger at bankers' bail-out
Brendan Brown, the chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, offers two remedies to temper public outrage at the bail-out of Wall Street.
Media inaccurate in portrayal of CEE's plight
Miroslav Singer, a vice governor at the Czech National Bank, tells CentralBankNews.com why the media's recent treatment of the problems in central and eastern Europe bears scant resemblance to the reality in some countries in the region.
This was always a crunch to be fought on 2 fronts
Charles Wyplosz, a professor at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and an occasional consultant to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, tells CentralBankNews.com why reviving banks' health was always going to take more than capital injections.
Payments systems and the crisis
Ron Berndsen, who heads the payments oversight department at the Dutch central bank, assesses the impact of the crisis on the financial "plumbing".
A setback for European payments
Terry Dirienzo, product and marketing director for Experian Payments, a consultancy, bemoans a French suspension of work on the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa).
Why we must say no to nationalisation
In the UK, nationalisation is increasingly being advocated by many experts as a solution to the banking crisis. Such a step would be a disaster for the UK and the City of London, argues Robert Pringle, the editor-in-chief of Central Banking journal.
London's lifelines lack coherence
The dangerously mixed messages underlying the British government's rescue attempts threaten to derail efforts to secure stability, argues Robert Pringle, the editor-in-chief of Central Banking journal.
Why failed bank executives must go
Senior management of banks that require public assistance should be replaced, says Robert Pringle, the editor-in-chief of Central Banking journal.
Worldwide cuts are not enough
The coordinated cuts by six of the most powerful central banks could prove a useful step in improving market sentiment. But only if it is coupled with more action at both a national and international level, Avinash Persaud, the chairman of Intelligence…
Without proper incentives we are doomed
The financial system cannot survive in anything like its present form if bankers continue to make profits and taxpayers assume the losses. Yet that is the trend, certainly in the United States with its ill-advised Paulson bailout, and increasingly in…
Fed deserves praise for online efforts
As the international financial system totters, the Federal Reserve banks are making full use of their websites to keep the public informed, says David Bowen, a senior consultant at Bowen Craggs, web advisers.
An offer they couldn't refuse
US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson's plan to buy troubled assets could prove the vital action in averting a financial meltdown. But only if the Treasury can take the right steps to put a floor under the market, says Claire Jones, the editor of Central…
Noyer's lonely moment
Robert Pringle, the editor of Central Banking journal, speculates on what kind of questions went through the mind of Christian Noyer, governor of the Banque de France, when he first learned of the Societe Generale disaster.
The blame game
The decision of many central banks, most notably the Federal Reserve, to lower rates in the wake of the dotcom crash, has drawn criticism from some quarters post-credit crunch. But, Claire Jones, editor of Central Bank News, argues blame for the crisis…
Cooperation can't get to root cause of crunch
The central banks' coordinated attempt to bring interbank rates down may alleviate liquidity pressures, but not the mistrust the lies at the core of the crunch, says Avinash Persaud, the chairman of Intelligence Capital, a financial advisory firm.
Rock raises lender of last resort issue for EU
One important aspect of the Northern Rock crisis in the UK has been to make market participants wonder what would happen if a similar-sized institution got into difficulties in a small or medium-sized EU member state.
There's a riot goin' on
By analysing so-called "riot points", we can see that the current crisis is spreading and deepening, says Avinash Persaud, the chairman of Intelligence Capital, a financial advisory firm.