France
Banque de France seeks partner for wholesale CBDC project
Project will explore CBDC use cases in interbank payment space
ECB strongly criticised by French and Italian leaders
Lagarde’s words spark Italian anger while Macron says first ECB measures are not sufficient
Lagarde misstep overshadows ‘bold’ measures, analysts say
ECB president seemed to have hampered governments’ debt financing at a critical juncture
Ghana’s Addison on banking reform, innovation and the future of the eco
The Bank of Ghana governor speaks about the next steps in banking reform and why West Africa may need more time to start using a common currency
Lifetime achievement award: Otmar Issing
The architect of the euro’s monetary operating framework is still playing an important role in shaping the debate on monetary policy
Specialised lending initiative: BNP Paribas
A new ‘global’ setup helped secure US dollar-denominated assets from a Eurosystem central bank
Asset manager of the year: Amundi Asset Management
The French asset manager helped reserve managers meet ESG criteria while also boosting central bank assets under management
Treasury systems initiative: Calypso Technology
The tech company secured important breakthroughs including with its Maps treasury operations system
Andorra seeks to join International Monetary Fund
Tiny principality would bring IMF members to a total of 190
‘Green finance’ standards ineffective with smaller firms – BdF paper
Banks lend to smaller firms irrespective of their industries’ polluting records, researcher says
Banque de France to launch CBDC experiments in 2020
De Galhau says new directorate will look at using wholesale CBDC in transactions for tokenised assets
Kansas Fed paper looks at weak US fraud controls
US has much higher ‘in-person fraud’ rates than three other developed economies, researcher says
People: French official becomes ECB’s market operations director
RBNZ replaces assistant governor role in main office with Auckland post; World Bank’s investment arm gets new managing executive officer
The challenges facing Christine Lagarde
The new ECB president will need to focus on a successful review of the ECB’s monetary and communications policy, while encouraging fiscal stimulus and structural reform
MAS develops fintech information-sharing platform
Singapore partners with Canadian and French regulators; Banque de France opens new office in Singapore
Central banks turn to Instagram to reach younger generations
The audiovisual social media network is helping some central banks offer financial education and other campaigns for millennials and Gen Zs
King calls for radical shake-up to escape ‘low-growth trap’
Central bank models fail to appreciate demand-side secular stagnation; IMF could help to drive country-specific policies to reallocate resources
Book notes: Economics for the common good, by Jean Tirole
The book should be well received amid the recent rise in populism
Banque de France research takes fresh look at eurozone interbank markets
Secured interbank markets not bounded by ECB’s deposit facility rate, results show
Cyprus central bank adopts Maps treasury management system
The system was built by Calypso and has been used by the Bank of Spain and Banque de France since 2016
Stablecoins raise ‘sovereignty challenge’, says de Galhau
French governor says rise of stablecoins highlights need for pan-European action on payments
People: Banque de France deputy nominated to EU Commission
Turkey fills two vacant deputy posts; Fed appoints head for new FedNow payments service; Iceland looks for director of financial stability replacement; FSB appoints Norman Chan’s replacement
The winners of the 2019 Fintech and Regtech Global Awards
Prizes awarded for outstanding work at the cutting edge of financial technology
Mark Carney on joined-up policy-making, forward guidance and Brexit
BoE governor rules out negative rates and change to inflation targets, offers update on too-big-to-fail and use of CCyBs, highlights challenges of an asymmetric monetary system, hits out at cumbersome payments and warns Facebook’s libra cannot ‘learn as…