Financial Stability
Completing reform agenda may not be enough – Caruana
BIS chief urges continuous effort to finish reforms, but says they need to be backed by policies that raise earning and debt-repayment capacities
Ex-Barclays trader pleads guilty in price-fixing conspiracy
Jason Katz, a former EMFX trader at Barclays and BNP Paribas, pleads guilty in New York
Colombian macro-pru measures have been effective, paper shows
Paper analyses the impact of macro-prudential measures on credit supply of banks; both reserve requirement and dynamic provisioning scheme have negative effect on credit growth
Bank of Portugal selects preferred buyer for ‘good bank’
Novo Banco sale process has met with difficulties; US firm Lone Star is named the best-placed bidder
Spanish deputy governor hints at need for European banking mergers
Restoy says supervisors should not promote specific integrations
Ukraine acts to cover ‘major shortfall’ in nationalised bank
NBU also tightens bond auction anonymity and announces restriction on use of cash to settle payments
UK competition authority raises concern on VocaLink sale
Sale of payments infrastructure provider to MasterCard could harm competition on ATMs, but unlikely to be a problem for wider payment systems, CMA finds
US card fraud higher than in countries with chip technology – Fed study
Study finds card transactions are on the rise but cheques still important; limited adoption of chip technology seems to be contributing to fraud
Senior ECB regulator calls for progress on deposit insurance
Unified deposit insurance plays “key role” in achieving “stable cross-border banking across the euro area”, Julie Dickson says
Basel III completion date pushed back
Governors and heads of supervision to delay meeting that would have given final approval to Basel III, as disagreement continues on output floors
Lars Rohde on negative rates, pegs, productivity and resolution
The National Bank of Denmark governor speaks to Christopher Jeffery about the productivity paradox, defending currency pegs, unexpected limits for negative rates and addressing too-big-to-fail
Chile notes health of domestic economy has declined
Latest financial stability report highlights the lack of profitability in the banking sector; institutions’ ability to cope with adverse external scenarios has “diminished”
Rohde criticises Italy's calls for BRRD special treatment
Danish governor believes the forceful implementation of Europe’s new bank resolution rules represents a “game-changer”; laments Basel’s shift from risk-based regulation
French central bank reveals details of blockchain experiment
Banque de France teams up with a fintech start-up to run distributed ledger tech through Sepa; the results of project expected to be presented at a conference in 2017
FSB: Japan should strengthen financial stability framework
Latest peer review says Japan has work to do in improving the macro-prudential framework and clarifying approach to resolution
Yellen underlines the importance of education for the economy
Globalisation and technology are driving the demand for educated workers, Fed chair says, emphasising the important role education has to play in the evolving US economy
BoE paper experiments with measuring vulnerabilities
The study finds the US had highest levels of vulnerability in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, with Asia and Europe appearing “robust”; the picture has now reversed, authors say
European agencies see pitfalls in growing big data use
Financial products likely to become more tailored to consumers, but that will not benefit everyone, regulators warn
Ukraine nationalises country’s largest bank
Gontareva says PrivatBank failed repeatedly to take necessary action, and so will be transferred into public ownership; central bank creates emergency liquidity facility
ECB bulletin emphasises importance of monitoring uncertainty
Increases in uncertainty adversely impact the economy, research says, encouraging policymakers to introduce measures to mitigate its impact
US and EU outline final rules on loss-absorbency
Fed adopts final rule on loss-absorbency, while EBA makes final recommendations to European Commission; US rules include grandfathering and exceptions for foreign firms
Sharper distinction in household vulnerabilities needed – Poloz
Latest financial stability review stresses importance of understanding difference in risk in housing sector; household indebtedness and housing market imbalances are key concerns
Sarb fines two major commercial banks for AML breaches
“Administrative sanctions” placed on Societe Generale Johannesburg branch and Absa Bank after staff found “weaknesses” in AML and terrorist-financing control measures
RBI paper unpacks India’s non-performing loan troubles
Authors find bank risk-taking is procyclical and the level of non-performing loans responds to the interest rate environment and the overall growth of the economy