Central Banks
Iceland hikes again amid inflation shock
Large wage increases force central bank to reassess its inflation forecast and hike rates for a second meeting in a row, with more likely to follow
Norway’s oil fund suffers loss in second quarter
Losses of about $9 billion were largely driven by the fixed-income portfolio, although equities delivered a weak performance; NBIM takes a more activist stance
Regulators face trade-off over publishing stress test results
Regulators publishing stress test results may inhibit frankness by bankers, a Philadelphia Fed working paper argues, but confidentiality brings its own risks
Zeti defends China's ‘managed convertibility' of RMB
Bank Negara Malaysia's governor says the international monetary system relies on ‘too few' reserve currencies; calls China's stock market fluctuations and cooling economy ‘short-term challenges'
CoCo bonds decrease banks’ appetite for risk, paper argues
Convertible bonds decrease banks’ incentives to take risks in highly-leveraged states, a DNB working paper argues
Dallas Fed picks former Goldman banker to replace Fisher
Robert Kaplan to take over as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, bringing experience in academia and as a senior executive at Goldman Sachs
Irish central bank paper finds high cost to hasty austerity
Economists find most of the costs of fiscal consolidation from 2011-13 could have been avoided if policy-makers waited until the zero lower bound was no longer a constraint
RBA report reveals changing pattern of card use
Australians are increasingly favouring debit over credit cards for payments but both have been increasing in volume and value
Turkey keeps rates level as lira hits dollar low
The Turkish central bank voted to keep its key policy rate unchanged despite a rapidly depreciating currency; under strong public pressure from Turkey’s president and his party
Central bank business school will foster Malaysia's future leaders, says Zeti
Bank Negara governor talks to Central Banking about the joint initiative with MIT to set up a school on its premises; says other central banks have shown interest
BoE economists mine tweets for early-warning indicator
Central bank put its work on ‘text mining’ and big data to work during Scottish independence referendum in an attempt to create an early-warning indicator for bank runs
Swedish regulators press government for clearer powers
Heads of Riksbank, FSA and National Debt Office call for government to speed up implementation of new legislation on macro-prudential powers, but minister says it could take until next year
Argentine central bank denies falsification as presidential challenger attacks governor
The conservative challenger in Argentina’s presidential election has attacked the central bank’s governor while the bank has denied newspaper charges of falsifying US dollar trading figure
New York Fed researchers shine light on process of giving policy advice
Economists including head of research explain the process of briefing William Dudley ahead of FOMC meetings
People: Wilson follows Harker to Philadelphia Fed; ESM promotes two
Patricia Wilson follows Joseph Harker to the Philadelphia Fed to take over as chief of staff; ESM promotes risk and economic analysis deputies to top jobs; and more
China should ‘rein in’ vulnerabilities, IMF warns
Economy faces challenge in balancing reform and growth, with IMF warning of growing risks in the financial system and need for further rebalancing
Iranian deputy points to economic turnaround since Rouhani took office
Deputy governor says central bank has managed to impose new discipline on the economy, but sees room for improvement in the broader Islamic world
HLA could incentivise systemic activity – Swiss Re
Swiss insurer's head of governmental affairs says crude measures might have unintended consequences for systemic risks
Iceland’s Guðmundsson sees role for IMF as arbiter of capital flows
Small open economies are being forced to take sub-optimal actions to defend themselves from capital flows, and while global ‘rules of the game’ are far off, IMF monitoring could be a first step
RBA’s Kent seeks to explain divergent labour and growth outcomes
Assistant governor says range of factors may have contributed to a unexpectedly strong performance of Australian unemployment, even as growth remains subdued
IMF presses for Greek debt relief as Eurogroup meets
Fund official says decision must be taken on debt relief before IMF will consider providing new funds; leaked document suggests ECB and Commission are concerned about sustainability
Serbian central bank resumes monetary easing
The National Bank of Serbia cut interest rates by 50bp in a bid to revive a fragile economy