Central Banks
Forward guidance successful in mitigating downside risks to price stability
Provision of time-based forward guidance reduces downside price stability risks but may result in upside risks during the medium term, finds ECB working paper
RBA payments head hails ‘hub-based’ retail payments platform
Reserve Bank of Australia’s Tony Richards delivers update on country’s new payments platform and the central bank’s work towards a faster settlement system
Adherence to Islamic financing principles could benefit credit unions
Islamic savings products would make institutions more resilient, and possibly strengthen incentives for good governance, IMF working paper argues
Ugandan governor rejects president’s growth target
Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile says it is impossible for Uganda to become a middle-income country by 2017, as it will take two decades for the country to double its GNI per capita
US needs to improve supervision of insurers, FSB peer review concludes
Dombret-led review says US is making progress in reducing systemic risk, but insurance supervision architecture is ‘fragmented'; FSB also publishes progress report on compensation practices
Iran central bank appoints new governor
New Iranian president names commercial bank veteran to take over at the top of the central bank; priority will be taming inflation now running at around 40% a year
Kuroda believes QQE has started to ‘exert effects’
Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda says the radical easing plan unveiled in April has led to a ‘favourable turn’ in the country’s finanical markets, public expectations and economic activity
Jackson Hole speakers question viability of central bank co-operation
BoE deputy Charlie Bean says it is not ‘viable’ for advanced central banks to internalise the spillovers from their monetary easing; academics argue co-operation could create extra costs
Sweden puts FSA in charge of financial stability
Central bank passed over as government stresses importance of democratic accountability; new financial stability board and bolstered foreign exchange reserves also announced
Israel central bank reinstates September meeting due to market volatility
Bank of Israel reverses a decision not to meet around the Jewish new year; u-turn likely to have been influenced by market expectations that the Fed will begin to 'taper' next month
BIS sizes up derivatives reforms and Basel III progress
Bank for International Settlements releases one report on the expected benefits and costs of OTC derivative reforms, and another on countries’ progress in implementing Basel III
ECB research highlights Greenspan’s powers of persuasion
Researchers say Alan Greenspan was a ‘dominant’ chairman of the FOMC who frequently managed to convince regional Fed presidents to walk his own policy line
Mauritius governor urges African central banks to help small business
Speaking at the AACB's annual get-together, Rundheersing Bheenick calls for support of small businesses alongside traditional ‘pro-poor policies' such as price and currency stability
Lagarde tells central bankers not to 'rush to exit' on QE
Speaking at Jackson Hole, the head of the IMF said unconventional monetary policies were "still needed in all places it is being used" and that it was unclear what "exit" actually implied
Economists weigh Fed exit at Jackson Hole
Robert Hall warns against tightening policy too soon; Arvind Krishnamurthy lays out exit path that would see Fed selling its Treasury portfolio while maintaining its purchases of MBS
Central bank independence in the spotlight as Indonesia joins EM currency ‘panic'
Bank Indonesia joins central banks in Brazil, India and Turkey in taking unconventional steps to stem currency sell-off; concern emerging markets are targeting currencies over inflation
Sarb looks to rein in money market liquidity
South African Reserve Bank concerned that high levels of liquidity could threaten the monetary policy transmission mechanism; plans to drain excess cash over a number of years
Adia CFO bagged by Texas real estate company
Jim Hime leaves the Abu Dhabi SWF for USAA Real Estate on September 1 after serving three years as chief financial officer of its real estate and infrastructure department
Mauritius introduces polymer banknotes
The Bank of Mauritius joins an exclusive but growing group of central banks that is looking to plastic money to curtail counterfeiting
Norwegian paper explores financial stability trade-off
Working paper identifies trade-off between increasing rates to mitigate financial imbalances and lowering rates to reduce the risk of bank insolvency
Czech paper dissects central bank inflation reports
Researchers find the inflation reports produced by a sample of eight central banks are ‘generally of good quality’ but warn their analytical power cannot be taken for granted