Central Banks
Venezuela’s central bank devalues bolivar as crisis continues
Bolivar devalued 64% in latest currency auction in an attempt to stem effects of financial crisis; Goldman Sachs comes under fire from opposition leader
People: Menon given fourth term; Irish chief economist retires
Singaporean governor awarded fourth consecutive term; Ireland’s chief economist retires, while the registrar of credit unions heads to the IMF; India appoints a new executive director; and more
Surprise RMB strengthening prompts unwinds
"A lot of long [US$] positions were unsustainable and had to be re-evaluated," says forex structuring head
Dombrovskis praises idea of bundling European sovereign bonds
European Commission is “closely following” work on designing new instruments
Financial integration will strengthen region – Thai governor
Santiprabhob says policies need to “converge” in order to create an integrated market; payment systems would be a good place to start with harmonised standards a proven solution, he says
EBA calls for reform of its funding and governance
Funding shortfalls are “unreasonable”, Enria says; some governance arrangements are “overly cumbersome”
BNM’s Ibrahim urges Asia to “re-engineer” global monetary system
Countries should reduce their reliance on the US dollar and promote a “multi-currency market” within Asean, says Muhammad bin Ibrahim
MAS’s DLT project posts successful results
Network issues digital Singapore dollars across a DLT network to settle interbank debts; problems with credit risk and liquidity will be addressed in future work, central bank says
Bank of England threatened with strike action over pay
Union members to be balloted on strike after being awarded a “derisory” 1% pay rise; UK inflation currently running at 2.7% and forecast to rise further
Model risk falls under the CCAR microscope
Fed using qualitative reviews to test the quality of model risk governance
Policy rate forecasts influence expectations – Riksbank paper
New data allows researcher to assess the “potency” of rate forecasts, which do appear to influence expectations
Pace of monetary easing may slow, says Central Bank of Brazil
Committee unanimously cut interest rates to 10.25%, but political uncertainty could slow the future pace of easing; economist praises approach to monetary policy communication
European institutions agree vote on securitisation programme
Council of ministers and lawmakers will vote in the coming weeks
Irish central bank gets new supervisory structure
Supervisory functions will be split into two “pillars"; Lane says increased mandate and greater European commitment means new structure is necessary
Growth in offshore funding is creating risks – RBNZ
Financial stability report notes growing reliance of banks on offshore funding sources could become a problem; housing market risks require new prudential tools