Central Banks
BoE’s Miles calls for smaller banking sector
Bank of England’s David Miles says the enormous size of the banking sector is no longer justified
Bank of Finland’s Huhtala on reserve management post-crisis
Heli Huhtala, the head of investments in the Banking Operations Department at the Bank of Finland, discusses how the crisis will change the thinking on central banks’ reserve-management strategies
Eurozone may need to rethink strategy on Greece
Brussels and the European Central Bank have underestimated the potential for contagion from Athens’s fiscal woes, argues Marco Annunziata, the chief economist at UniCredit
HKMA: Quarterly Bulletin (December 2009)
Bulletin article says exposures to structured products remains insignificant
Fed reiterates plans for February exit
Federal Open Market Committee and governors expect to exit most crisis-fighting facilities early next year; committee keeps “extended period” pledge
Britain to abolish cheque clearing in 2018
Payments overseer says plans contingent on 2016 review demonstrating alternatives exist
Czechs surprise with rate cut
Czech National Bank opts to shave a quarter point off key rate
Norway hikes for second time
Norges Bank raises key rate to 1.75% citing pick-up in economic activity
Denmark gets new assistant governor
Head of economics at National Bank of Denmark promoted
Oil-price forecasts inaccurate
Bundesbank looks at the expectation-formation process of forecasters in the crude oil market
East Asia will take its cue from Fed: Indonesia deputy
Budi Mulya, the deputy governor of Bank Indonesia, says it is crucial the Fed err on the side of caution in withdrawing accommodative measures; East Asia-Pacific region will watch it closely
Austria nationalises failing lender
Austrian government takes over Hypo Group Alpe Adria from state of Bavaria as central bank financial stability report shows tier 1 capital ratios in the sector are set to drop
Mexico shrugs off S&P downgrade
Peso down marginally and Mexican stocks up despite second downgrade in less than a fortnight
Cutting interest rates the best solution: ECB paper
A European Central Bank working paper argues that interest rate cuts and controlled inflation help adverse financial conditions, while simplistic interpretation of Taylor rule does not
Crisis down to global imbalances: Obstfeld, Rogoff
Maurice Obstfeld and Kenneth Rogoff say global imbalances key source of crisis
Bank of England – Quarterly Bulletin
Bank of England says secondary corporate bond market needs more support
Argentina to plunder central bank to pay off debt
Argentine government announces plans to create a fund to repay creditors which would use central bank’s reserves
Kazakhstan latest to step away from dollar
The National Bank of Kazakhstan, which has seen foreign currency reserves drop sharply, shifts towards euro on fears over the dollar’s weakness
Biggest exit barriers political: Buiter
Willem Buiter says main obstacles to exiting unconventional policies