Financial Stability
G20 protests converge on Bank of England
The Bank of England on Wednesday was surrounded by anti-capitalist protesters, converging on Threadneedle Street to vent their anger at the crisis on the eve of the London G20 summit.
Mexico may tap Fed, IMF credit lines
Felipe Calderon, Mexico's president, said on Tuesday that the country was eligible to take a $40 billion credit line with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as speculation mounted that the Bank of Mexico would soon use its $30 billion arrangement with…
A guide for an ideal communique
For Marc Uzan, an executive director on the Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee, the perfect G20 communique would note the long-term ramifications of the crisis.
IMF to enhance borrowing terms for the poor: Lipsk
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is redesigning its lending policies for low-income countries, said John Lipsky, the first deputy managing director of the fund.
Canada's Carney: don't cut off banks from markets
Banks should not be divorced from the markets to avoid liquidity problems. Instead the perimeter of regulation should be expanded, said Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of Canada.
China vows to expand currency-swap operations
The People's Bank of China pledged on Tuesday to expand its network of swap lines with other central banks days after agreeing a Rmb70 billion ($10.2 billion) arrangement with Argentina.
Don't rely too heavily on capital-adequacy models
Supervisors should guard against placing undue reliance on the overall level of capital implied by economic capital models in assessing capital adequacy, a new paper from the Bank for International Settlements posits.
Sepa project must be extended
The scope of the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) project must be extended to include standardisation in the field of value-added services, such as e-invoicing, a new paper from the National Bank of Denmark states.
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.
Soros urges G20 to agree on SDR reallocation
George Soros, one of the world's most renowned hedge-fund managers, has called on G20 leaders to endorse the reallocation of rich country's SDR quotas with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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…
Spain appoints new deputy amidst first bailout
The Spanish government named Francisco Javier Ariztegui as the Bank of Spain's new deputy governor on Friday.
ECB issues Sepa "expectations"
The European Central Bank (ECB) published a list of expectations on Friday for how it would like to see stakeholders act to implement the Single Euro Payments Area or Sepa, amid concerns that the initiative will be swept aside by the financial crisis.
We won't let banks fail - Nigeria's Soludo
Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said on Monday that the central bank will not allow any of the domestic banks to fail.
Tucker: macroprudential is more than macro + micro
A macroprudential approach to financial supervision requires more than simply bringing together the central bank's macroeconomists and the regulator's line supervisors, said Paul Tucker, a deputy governor of the Bank of England.
Limits to safety net support - Richmond's Lacker
It is of paramount importance to clearly define the boundaries of future safety net support, said Jeffrey Lacker, the president of the Richmond Federal Reserve.
Europe's and Japan's fiscal actions procyclical
Discretionary fiscal policy tended to be procyclical in continental European countries and Japan, a new paper from the International Monetary Fund posits.
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).
Goodfriend: Fed's fiscal statement does not go far enough
The Federal Reserve's attempt to clarify its stability role is a move in the right direction, but must be improved upon
Zhou warns against trust in external ratings
Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People's Bank of China, voiced concern about the role of rating agencies in an essay posted on the central bank's website.
Fed's Stern: recession could end in mid-2009
In one of the most bullish assessments of the state of the US economy by an official of the Federal Reserve since the start of the crisis, Gary Stern, the long-serving president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said that the recovery could…
Data on home-host banking activity inadequate
Data on international banking activity remain largely inadequate for surveillance and policymaking purposes, new research from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) posits.
Basel Committee's Praet on the future of regulation
Peter Praet, an executive director at the National Bank of Belgium and a member of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, offers some pointers on how global leaders should formulate their regulatory response to the crisis.
European banks to drop interchange fees by 2012
The European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have told European banks to get rid of interchange fees on direct debit transactions by 31 October 2012 under EU antitrust rules.