Central Banks
Fed tightens rules for retail forex banking
Federal Reserve publishes final rules for banks engaging in foreign exchange transactions with retail customers; includes requirements for risk disclosures, good conduct, capitalisation and margining
IMF paper uses monetary model to explain term premium
Study says central bank supply of liquidity influences asset prices; argues that this relationship can explain greater proportion of term premium than non-monetary models
Contribution of Irish financial sector to GDP ‘overstated’
Paper questions the statistical methodology behind claim that Irish financial sector contributes €15 billion to country’s output
US non-farm payroll stats strengthen case for more QE
Boston Fed president joins calls to continue QE programme as US employment recovery falters
Bank of Spain reshapes supervisor to meet new demands
Banking supervision directorate restructured to meet the requirements of Spain’s memorandum of understanding and the move to European banking union
ECB on collision course with European Parliament over top supervisory appointments
Yves Mersch fears EP veto over supervisory board heads will 'institutionalise conflict' between the ECB and EP, and contravene the Maastricht Treaty
Yellen calls quantitative thresholds a ‘major improvement’ in forward guidance
Federal Reserve vice-chair justifies move to unemployment-based guidance; says clear ‘exit principles’ are important for ending quantitative easing safely
Chilean paper finds central bank’s forecasts influence private sector expectations
Working paper finds evidence the private sector updates inflation expectations based on the Central Bank of Chile’s forecasts; suggests more central banks should publish forecasts to aid policy
BoE chief economist says QE impact will vary, but not diminish, over time
Spencer Dale says effects of asset purchases depend on the time and place they are conducted; Bank of Japan’s shocking policy announcement may have been necessary to correct misperceptions
Assistant governor says RBNZ should not be target of exchange rate ‘angst’
John McDermott deflects criticism that the central bank is failing to correct the exchange rate, warning hard-won inflation credibility could be lost and other factors are at play
Czech research examines macroprudential policy in small economies
Policy note stresses the importance of considering cyclical systemic risk when setting macro-prudential policy in a small EU economy
IMF working paper examines monetary policy ‘leaning against the wind'
Monetary authorities that want to stimulate the economy while maintaining financial stability should cut deeper, but then raise rates again faster
People: Wampah becomes Bank of Ghana governor; Iosco replaces chair
Henry Wampah moves from acting to full governor of the Bank of Ghana; Iosco appoints new chair and vice-chairs; Poland gets new management board members; and more
Hungary launches $2bn scheme to boost SME lending
New scheme will lend to commercial banks interest-free to on-lend to SMEs; cash also available to re-finance foreign-denominated loans into Hungarian forints
San Francisco Fed president predicts mid-year asset purchase slowdown
John Williams says economy has shifted into ‘higher gear’ and a substantial labour market improvement could trigger decline in asset purchases
Draghi promises Cyprus bail-out is ‘no template’
Mario Draghi says an established pecking order of ‘bail-inable’ debt will avoid repeating the chaotic resolution in Cyprus; ECB and BoE both hold rates
Kuroda unveils radical plan to end Japanese deflation
Measures aim to double monetary base in two years, with asset purchases no longer constrained by banknote rule; mixed response as questions raised over whether yet more easing will work
BoE economist warns of tendency to ‘overstate’ fiscal multipliers
Matthias Paustian says simple Keynesian models can produce unrealistically high fiscal multiplier when examining fiscal policy at the zero lower bound
IMF strikes €1 billion funding deal with Cyprus
Staff team agrees Fund’s contribution to overall bail-out package; Christine Lagarde praises Cyprus’s ‘ambitious’ programme of reforms
Haldane defends BoE's macro-prudential policy
Andrew Haldane says recent instruction to banks to increase levels of capital will stimulate lending to real economy; academics debate viability of macro-prudential policy
BIS paper urges statistics expansion
Research tells policy-makers to take advantage of the ‘sense of urgency’ that follows financial crises to expand the data they collect, including more comprehensive information on banks
Australia shuffles top managers but governor Stevens stays on
RBA governor Stevens reappointed for three more years, while Wayne Byres moves from Basel Committee to head up prudential regulator Apra