Europe
Eurozone recovery set to broaden, says ECB bulletin
Report presents growing body of good news for most eurozone economies as wages and consumption rise, inflation bottoms out and investment begins to return
Bank of England's Rule says reigniting securitisation market will take time
Executive director cautions against rushing to restart securitisation market, as a return to pre-crisis ‘fragile’ market would be counterproductive
Ireland to phase out one- and two-cent coins
Central bank will lead project that will see cash payments rounded to discourage use of low-value coins; decision follows successful trial in 2013
Overconfident forecasters may be ‘overrepresented’ in ECB survey
Working paper finds participation in the Survey of Professional Forecasters drops when uncertainty rises, suggesting the results may be biased
EU court rules OMTs are legal
ECB is vindicated as ECJ rules in favour of crisis measure that would see the central bank buy potentially unlimited amounts of sovereign debt to protect ‘singleness’ of monetary policy
Draghi defends ‘distributional consequences’ of QE
ECB president suggests easy monetary policy will benefit all citizens in the longer run; economists describe impact on inequality as “ambiguous” in research prepared for Econ Committee
ECB paper examines financial exposure in eurozone
Working paper finds eurozone investors are ‘overexposed’ to securities issued within the region, more so in the case of ‘low-rating economies’
Greek governor wants surplus countries to recognise ‘toxic’ effect of austerity
Yannis Stournaras warns surplus countries must bear a share of the burden of adjustment in Europe or risk the rise of extreme political parties; says he is optimistic a deal is ‘not far away’
ECB article calls for ‘consistent’ macro-prudential policies
Article in latest financial stability review says policies should be applied consistently across the eurozone to avoid spillovers
Mario Draghi urges reform to ‘unleash’ eurozone potential
ECB president highlights importance of the credibility and type of structural reforms, as well as their interaction with other policies; Stanley Fischer points to ‘missing fiscal framework’
Euroclear and Clearstream granted time to agree joint road map
Both ICSDs intend to start a feasibility assessment for real-time settlement after the completion of Target2-Securities migration in June 2017
ECB’s Cœuré says higher inflation target not solution to zero lower bound
Benoît Cœuré says raising the inflation target or abolishing the currency is not the right way to make monetary policy more effective; structural reforms a better use of political capital
Esma official slams CFTC margin rules
US rules driven by competitive rather than prudential concerns, Fabrizio Planta charges
IMF urges Irish authorities to ‘enhance’ central bank independence
Report warns legal framework could ‘potentially introduce political considerations’ into governance arrangements; finds uncompetitive pay may be hurting ability to hire and retain supervisors
Czech vice-governor questions case for joining banking union
Mojmír Hampl considers the pros and cons of the Czech Republic joining the SSM; government adopts a ‘wait-and-see approach’ and will review the issue every 12 months
European supervisors want better data to support securitisation stress tests
‘Joint Committee’ proposes numerous disclosure requirements for securitisations, including giving investors enough information to stress test purchased products
Alexandre Lamfalussy: 1929–2015
Those who knew him pay tribute to the former president of the European Monetary Institute and general manager of the Bank for International Settlements
European Commission looks to unshackle big data
In its quest to create a digital single market the commission plans to tackle restrictions on the free movement of data; champions transition to ‘open science’
Bundesbank’s Dombret wants more ‘proportional’ supervisory teams
Executive board member says the joint supervisory teams in Europe should be proportionate to the size and significance of the banks they supervise
Czech director: US dollar helps compensate for impact of oil prices on CEE countries
Luboš Komárek discusses the outlook for Central and Eastern European countries, including the favourable outlook for Germany, which is a "crucial trade partner" for many in the region
Romanian governor calls for adjustments before joining ERM II
Mugur Isărescu says aim of adopting euro in January 2019 is ‘highly ambitious’ on account of the reforms necessary to ensure sustainable convergence
Longer-term inflation expectations pick up in eurozone
In its latest economic bulletin the European Central Bank shows how some measures of expectations, including the five-year inflation-linked swap rate five years ahead, are recovering
Centralising supervision may trigger more integration, ECB paper finds
Working paper suggests centralising supervision could create the need for even more centralisation; calls for ‘perimeter of banks’ supervised by central authority to be flexible
Nouy sees banking union driving deeper integration
ECB report finds financial integration back to levels achieved before sovereign debt crisis; Danièle Nouy expects banking union to help create ‘deeper integration of a higher quality’