Central Banks
FX Invest Europe: Deutsche Bundesbank official praises Fed’s QE exit strategy
Christine Glockmann says other central bankers may copy Fed’s communication over QE tapering; says eurozone economic policy suffers from member states 'bickering'
Blanchard leads calls for more ‘democratic input’ in central bank decision-making
Viral Acharya, Olivier Blanchard, Richard Fisher, Otmar Issing and Klaas Knot debate new ‘paradigm’ of central banks with ever more responsibilities; Blanchard prescribes an injection of democracy
Markets see PBoC hand in RMB depreciation
The sharp fall in the RMB at the end of February is thought to have been a deliberate action by China’s central bank to engineer the development of a two-way market in the currency
Weidmann says macro-prudential instruments should be a ‘political top priority’
Bundesbank president says macro-prudential instruments should be prepared urgently; points out flaws in attaching greater importance to the financial sector when setting monetary policy
Ingves: Basel Committee still has ‘quite a bit of work to do’ on leverage ratio
Stefan Ingves tells banking supervisors in Asia-Pacific there is plenty of work left to do before the Basel Committee will be able to settle on the final calibration of the leverage ratio
Greek paper raises ‘red flag’ over Emu integration
Researcher from Bank of Greece analyses the impact of the Economic and Monetary Union on financial market integration by assessing its effect on capital holdings
Ukraine calls on IMF help as NBU focuses on financial stability
New government asks IMF and other international lenders for a bail-out; interim president tells central bank staff they must restore public confidence in the banking system
Iceland MPC fears debt relief package will boost inflation
Central Bank of Iceland frets over economic impact of government's plan to relieve 100,000 households of $1.32 billion in debt
Armenia pips Kazakhstan to coin award
Central Bank of Armenia commemorative coin triumphs over National Bank of Kazakhstan offering in an Italian competition for Best Coin of the Year
Central Bank of Brazil hike 'signals end' to year-long tightening cycle
Central bank raises benchmark Selic rate by 25 basis points to 10.75% in move that analysts say means a lower peak is probable
Rajan sets out five-point plan to tackle food inflation
Reserve Bank of India governor says monetary policy can help control food inflation, but insists the government 'has an important role to play'
IMF praises full-tilt reform at Paraguayan central bank
The central bank has introduced a string of reforms recently, including an overnight lending facility, a tighter benchmark rate and bi-annual inflation reports
Mersch cautiously optimistic on RMB internationalisation
Renminbi internationalisation could bring benefits both to China and outsiders, ECB board member says, if Chinese reforms continue and investors take care
IMF statisticians create composite index of financial inclusion
A working paper outlines the design of the index and then applies it to a sample of 31 countries; Maldives comes out on top while Chad gets the wooden spoon
Georgians vote on new currency symbol
National Bank of Georgia has shortlisted five designs in the race to represent the national currency, the lari
Pakistan looks to raise public profile of Islamic finance
The State Bank of Pakistan launches a five-year strategic plan to develop Islamic finance domestically and abroad; sets focus on improving public perception of the industry
Banks could be forced to leave UK if home regulators are found wanting
Draft rules published today by the UK banking supervisor put pressure on non-EEA countries to up supervision of banks that want to do business in London
Europe card fraud up after five-year decline, ECB data show
Growth in online shopping blamed for increase in card payments fraud, which totalled €1.33 billion within the Single Euro Payments Area in 2012 - up 21% on the previous year
Pope to set up Vatican central bank
Vatican City set to establish its own central bank as Pope Francis looks to overhaul a financial system that has suffered accusations of corruption
Norges Bank review calls on MPC to relinquish control of wealth fund
Annual report published today raises ‘serious concern' over monetary policy committee's capacity to oversee $830 billion wealth fund with most members having other full-time jobs
Fed transcripts reveal origins of modern forward guidance
Transcripts from the FOMC’s meetings in 2008 reveal the considerations that informed forward guidance at the time and continue to influence central banks’ communication policy today
Cold comfort for Icesave guarantors
Putative Icelandic government demands on the Landsbanki insolvency estate likely behind UK and Dutch lawsuits