Central Banks
Temasek takes stake in Santander custody business
Singaporean SWF joins with private equity firm Warburg Pincus to buy half of Santander's custody business - giving the Spanish bank's balance sheet a welcome boost
Malawi governor urges banks to ‘innovate’ and help boost exports and tourism
Charles Chuka calls on banks to find new ways of financing ‘underserved’ sectors of the economy such as agriculture and tourism, to aid the production of exports
People: Greek governor confirmed; Ingves re-appointed to Basel Committee
The appointment of Yannis Stournaras as Bank of Greece governor has been confirmed in parliament; Ingves has a new term at the Basel committee; and more
French economists find UMP had ‘significant’ impact on sovereign yield spreads
Working paper breaks down the determinants of sovereign yield spreads in OECD countries; size of ECB’s balance sheet effects spreads differently across eurozone member states
Bank of Korea brings back Jang as new governor Lee's number two
Jang Byung Wha returns to the Bank of Korea as senior deputy governor; latest in series of organisational changes that has brought a new head of reserves and MPC member
Central Bank of Turkey cuts main rate as MPC sees inflation in decline
Bank lowers one-week repo rate by 75bp to 8.75%, its second consecutive rate cut, but says it is maintaining a ‘tight policy stance'
Sri Lankan central bank weighs impact of QE on emerging markets
Latest financial system stability review features box on QE; central bank suggests the damage caused by market reaction to the Fed taper outweighed the initial benefits
Zambia governor opens conference on financial inclusion for women
Michael Gondwe says deliberate policies and a long-term commitment will be needed to ensure financial inclusion for all Zambia's women
Central Bank of Hungary rate cut streak hits 23
Central Bank of Hungary cuts rates for the 23rd successive month; monetary council says ‘further cautious easing’ may follow, but suggests cycle will soon conclude
Norwegian SWF plans $27bn expansion into real estate
New focus on real estate investments part of Norway's sovereign wealth fund strategy through 2016, which will see it hire 230 more staff and employ more external managers
Carney clashes with parliamentarians over ‘unreliable' forward guidance
BoE governor defends suggestion earlier this month that interest rates could rise this year as MP likens central bank to ‘unreliable boyfriend' over changing guidance
RBNZ deputy ‘very satisfied’ with risk management review
Geoff Bascand praises the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s enterprise risk management framework, which he says is a ‘powerful tool’ that will drive innovation across the central bank
Riksbank brief: Virtual currencies 'essentially positive'
Digital money can make payments 'cheaper and more secure', argues staffer in economic commentary; risks mean virtual currencies should be assessed on a case-by-case basis
Central banks test ‘dry ice' banknote cleaning technology
Banks to test whether ‘supercritical' CO2 can rid notes of filth without damaging security features; central banks spend $10 billion to replace 150 billion banknotes each year
Financial stability reports to become ‘a lot more important’
New research highlights ‘sizeable effects’ of financial stability reports on stock markets; speeches have become more influential since the crisis but this is unlikely to last
Reserve managers look to exit bonds sooner as global ‘taper' looms
Fed taper has reserve managers fretting, new Central Banking Publications survey of 69 central banks shows; ETFs are gaining traction as reserve asset class
Capital controls and exposure to China help EMs weather taper storm
IMF working paper isolates determinants of taper impact on emerging markets; finds capital controls, macro-prudential policies, and exposure to China can mitigate harm
Irish central bank will ‘change structurally’ before SSM
Cyril Roux says the Central Bank of Ireland will make organisational changes in the coming months as it looks to accommodate the Single Supervisory Mechanism
Macro-prudential research builds ‘analytical foundation’ for EU policy
A European System of Central Bank’s research network reports on four years of work; Vitor Constâncio says policy-makers will still need ‘trial-and-error approaches’
Marek Belka seems secure as Poland’s political crisis shifts focus
Crisis precipitated by central bank governor’s secretly recorded comments threatened to bring down the government, but may now blow over
IMF's Singh discusses ‘financial plumbing' issues as central banks leave ZLB
IMF's Manmohan Singh investigates issues around bank balance sheet regulations which may impact monetary policy options as central banks leave the zero lower bound
People: Czech comms head moves to general secretariat; RBNZ board names new member
Czech National Bank appoints Marek Petruš to head general secretariat; Tania Simpson named as RBNZ director; New Zealand SWF gets new CIO; Bank of Russia Moscow head on the move