Central Banks
Bundesbank caps gold sales for next year at 6.5 tonnes
Germany’s central bank limits gold sales for the next twelve months at 6.5 tonnes under Central Banks’ Gold Agreement
Bailout announcements agitated markets, shows IMF study
IMF working paper shows bailout decisions aggravated inter-bank markets, and argues for a coordinated policy response to restore global confidence
Fed will fail to land systemic risk role, Zoellick predicts
World Bank’s Robert Zoellick says Fed will not get systemic risk role, moots Treasury. Sees renminbi, euro strengthen reserve status
G20 pledges to tackle imbalances
Global imbalances take precedence over regulation in regulation in communiqué
Bank publishes payments oversight rules
Bank of England extends Core Principles in checklist for how payments systems should be run post-crisis
Volcker: narrower role would make Fed too detached
Paul Volcker says removing supervision from Fed’s ambit would risk turning central bank into “academic seminar”
Fed audit would damage economy: counsel Alvarez
Federal Reserve lawyer defends central bank against lawmakers’ attempts to scrutinise its monetary operations
IMF should move to Europe: ex research head
Simon Johnson suggests switching headquarters to Europe as means to break deadlock on quotas
Flexible targeting still best practice: Riksbank’s Svensson
Lars Svensson, Deputy Governor of Sweden’s Riksbank, says impact of finance on monetary transmission mechanism must be better understood
Interventions helped creditors not shareholders
Bank for International Settlements reviews market reaction to bank rescue packages during the crisis
Buba’s Zeitler: regulatory capital a key issue
Bundesbank’s Franz-Christoph Zeitler commends capital measures but warns implementation should not occur until after the crisis is at an end
Risk role presents new challenge: ECB’s Bini Smaghi
European Central Bank’s Lorenzo Bini Smaghi notes issuing risk warnings will mark a departure in central banks’ usual practice of targeting the middle ground
Fed decision depresses markets despite positive outlook
Federal Open Market Committee sees improvement in economy, but its decision to slow purchases of mortgage-related debt hits confidence and divides analysts
Iceland cuts overnight rate, looks ahead to removing capital controls
Icelandic Monetary Policy Committee votes to cut only overnight lending rate, cites “encouraging signs”
Monetary policy must inspire confidence to counter debt fears
Kate Barker, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, argues central bank must be sensitive to changes in attitudes towards debt and investment
Central banks to extend dollar swaps past October
Bank of Japan, European Central Bank, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank provide schedule for dollar operations into 2010
Central banks victims of their own inflation-fighting success
European Central Bank tests whether memories of high inflation affect public preferences about the importance attached to price stability
RBA – Financial Stability Review September
Sentiment among Australian households and businesses has improved considerably says the Reserve Bank of Australia in its latest Financial Stability Review
Bank to hold seminar to clarify QE
Bank of England invites economists and the press next week to mark six months since the start of bond purchases, denies “crisis” meeting
Denmark makes third cut in six weeks
National Bank of Denmark shaves a tenth of a percentage point of key rate