Central Banks
Some lessons on liquidity
The price a bank pays for liquidity depends upon the liquidity positions of its rivals as well as its own, research from the Bundesbank finds.
Fed further opens lending window
The Federal Reserve has announced a new lending facility that will allow an even wider range of institutions - including hedge funds - to access loans by the central bank.
Bank of Canada - Financial System Review Dec '08
The latest Financial System Review from the Bank of Canada focuses on five key sources of risk to the strength and stability of the Canadian financial system.
Assets are better kept with SWFs
Countries with a large foreign asset base tend to establish sovereign wealth funds as central banks' portfolio diversification tends is limited, says a new paper from the San Francisco Federal Reserve.
How high is inflation? Depends how you ask
Seemingly small differences in how inflation is referred to in a survey can lead respondents to consider significantly different price concepts, says a paper from the New York Federal Reserve.
Paulson wants more cash as Tarp bails out Detroit
Hank Paulson, the US treasury secretary, has called for Congress to hand over the remainder of the $700 billion in taxpayer funds allocated to the Troubled Asset Relief Plan (Tarp). Paulson's pleas followed news that George W. Bush, the US president,…
Japan acts to ease lending strains, cuts to 0.1%
The Bank of Japan has shaved two-tenths of a percentage points off its key rate and introduced a raft of measures aimed at easing financing tensions in the run-up to the year-end, including outright purchases of commercial paper.
Turkey cuts by 125 basis points
The Central Bank of Turkey cut its key rate by 125 basis points on Thursday after the slowdown in the Turkish economy showed signs of intensifying.
ECB to keep one-governor, one-vote system for now
The European Central Bank's (ECB) Governing Council has gone back on the voting structure set out in its statute and opted to keep its one-governor, one-vote regime until the number of eurosystem central banks exceeds 18. The central bank also said that…
Obama picks SEC head and Fed governor
Barack Obama, the US president-elect, has named Mary Schapiro, the chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), as the new head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The president-elect also appointed Daniel Tarullo,…
Philippines cuts as World Bank pledges $200m food
The Central Bank of the Philippines lopped half a point off its key rate on Thursday as the World Bank approved a $200m loan to ensure the country's poor would have basic foodstuffs amid the growth slowdown.
Demand soars for high-value euro notes
The value of €500 ($715) notes in circulation surged past a quarter of a trillion euros in 2008 to reach €262 billion in November.
Indian inflation plummets as fuel prices drop
India's key inflation measure has dipped by more than a percentage point over the course of a week.
A new model for long-run risks
A paper from the Kansas City Federal Reserve devises a model long-run risks model where inflation risks and volatilities are in line with survey data.
Monetary policy should respond to risk-taking
Unless monetary policy regimes respond to increased levels of risk-taking by market participants, fluctuations in the business cycle might be amplified in future, argues a paper from the Bank for International Settlements.
Russia, Nigeria devalue, shun "losing battle"
The Nigerian and Russian central banks have both said that they will allow their currencies to depreciate to protect their reserves stockpile. The actions signal Moscow and Abuja have acknowledged that the real values of their currencies have weakened in…
Norway slashes rates on "major shocks"
Norges Bank has followed the Riksbank's lead in chopping 175 basis points off its key rate. Exposure to "new major shocks" sparked the move, which leaves the central bank's key rate at 3%. Elsewhere, three other central banks cut their key rate by 50…
Fed cut a psychological boost but little more
At face value, Tuesday's Federal Open Market Committee statement was an historic move that underlined the US central bank's commitment to do all it can to counter the crisis. But, though the statement met with widespread approval from the markets, it…
Norwegian SWF looks to block Buffett takeover
Norway's sovereign wealth fund has filed a lawsuit to block a proposed takeover of a company it part-owns by Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company headed by Warren Buffett, an investor.
Old Lady mulled another mammoth move
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which slashed rates by a percentage point to take them to an all-time low earlier this month, considered backing an even larger move, the minutes of the meeting reveal.
Liquidity risk and sovereign risk premia
A working paper from the Bank of Canada uses arbitrage-pricing theory to study the relationship between liquidity risk and sovereign bond risk premia in the London Stock Exchange in the late 19th century.
DSK on the Fund's future
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has said that the objectives of the Fund remain just as relevant today as they did in the 1940s; the question was how to meet them.
FSF Asia-Pacific statement notes strains
The fifth annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific group of the Basel-based Financial Stability Forum noted that although the region had been able to withstand the financial crisis to date a number of strains had begun to appear.
UK inflation falls as King writes letter
British inflation fell in November but remains far above the Bank of England's target, obliging Mervyn King, the governor of the central bank, to write another letter explaining why inflation remains so high and what the Bank is doing to bring it down.