Financial Stability
Low rates and Solvency II raise ‘profound challenges’ for insurers – French governor
The move to unit-linked products is “not the only answer” to the need for diversification, de Galhau says; policy-makers must monitor the impact of the transition to Solvency II
RBA seeks to gain ‘additional’ insight into wages – Lowe
Central bank teams up with statistical agency to gain insight into declining wage patterns; frequency of wage increases is decreasing, says RBA governor
Bank of Italy issues latest economic bulletin
Non-performing loan ratios improving at five largest banking groups, central bank argues
Foreign investment ‘restored’ exchange rates after policy shocks – paper
Data from Colombian central bank shows foreign exchange intervention have “short-lived effects” on prices; over the medium term, foreign capital flows push exchange rate back to original level
Asia resolution rules risk conflict with G-Sib home regulators
Branches fear local regulators could ask banks for confidential home market information
Bank of Russia records decrease in fraudulent transactions
Central bank says decrease in cyber crime is a result of new centre for Cyber-Attack Monitoring and Response in the Financial Centre; official says Bank of Russia supports initiative for harsher punishment of cyber crime
Ghana drafts first electronic payment regulation
New regulation will apply to banks and other financial institutions wanting to provide electronic money services; draft to be passed to parliament after a period of consultation
Irish central bank issues first fine under ‘related parties’ code
Case is first brought under code governing deals with “related and connected parties”
Kansas Fed’s George: 2017 will be ‘significant’ year for US payments
Esther George says major milestones in faster payment project will be passed next year – although some of the hardest work will follow afterwards
Australia’s real-time payment system to go live in 2017 – Lowe
Test payments already being settled on new real-time payments platform, says RBA governor; fast settlement service set to undergo industry testing this month
Basel Committee outlines plans for ‘fundamental change’ of IFRS 9
Task force to consider impact of expected credit loss approach on regulatory capital, while consultation lays out interim plans
Otmar Issing on why the euro ‘house of cards’ is set to collapse
Euro architect tells Chris Jeffery that muddling from one crisis to another cannot go on endlessly. Politicians need to admit “there is no likelihood” of political union to give EMU rules a chance
Coen seeks to quell European fears on Basel III
European parliament members accuse Basel Committee of favouring US over European banks; William Coen says “Basel process” is transparent and not dominated by any one interest
‘Unlikely’ London’s financial hub will move to Europe – BoE’s Cunliffe
BoE deputy says London’s “complex financial ecosystem” is not easily transplanted; warns moving euro clearing system across channel would increase costs
Singaporean and Swiss regulators move against merchant bank in 1MDB scandal
Senior management pressured staff to ignore anti-money-laundering regulations, reports say
Top US and EU officials hold resolution war game
US, UK and eurozone central bankers, regulators and politicians participate in an exercise designed to improve the co-ordination of cross-border resolution
Targets key tool in reducing NPL levels, Irish deputy governor says
Banks can be unwilling to start sustainable NPL restructuring, Donnery says; repeats call for reform of European restructuring processes
Policy-makers need to be aware of the distributional impact of policies – Carstens
Hunt for growth needs to accommodate all, says Bank of Mexico governor; Carstens advocates a "three-pronged approach"
Danish governor attacks prime minister’s property tax proposals
Policy will risk further inflating the housing bubble, Rohde says
BoE investigates 6% plunge in sterling
Bank of England to investigate a 'flash crash' in sterling during overnight trading; traders believe it was not a ‘fat finger’ error
Mexican deputy supports more currencies in global system
Calafell says monetary system with more international currencies could result in “periods of turbulence”, but would be stronger than the current system
European Commissioner cautions US on TLAC rules
Dombrovskis says foreign banks should not be mistreated by Fed internal TLAC proposal
Bank of Russia announces prototype distributed ledger networking tool
Central bank planning further DLT prototypes, deputy governor says; Russia is excluded from using prototype DLT tools used in Western countries
European commercial bond market may suffer from lack of liquidity, ESRB says
Banks complain of effect of European regulations on liquidity; reporting on European fixed income markets still has “significant information gap”