Central Banking Journal
Malaysia’s Zeti on the key skills needed to be a successful central banker
The Bank Negara veteran speaks about leadership skills, lessons from the AFC and 1MDB crises, her scepticism of inflation targeting, and how the Asia School of Business' masters synthesises theory with practical realities
Book notes: Money in the 21st century: cheap, mobile, and digital, by Richard Holden
Author’s call for compulsory end of cash and transition to CBDC seems like ‘overkill’
Book notes: The monetarists: the making of the Chicago monetary tradition, 1927-1960, by George S Tavlas
A fascinating, scholarly and sympathetic account of the Chicago monetary tradition
Ten central banks diversify portfolios with new asset classes
Institutions introduce green bonds and others into their reserve holdings
Portfolio managers make up largest share of reserve teams
Staff average annual earnings hover around $30,000 level
Interpreting the PBoC’s slew of policy reforms
How are new stimulus measures, bond market tactics, deflationary pressures and monetary policy framework changes affecting central banking in China?
All eyes on the Fed
The US central bank faces a challenging path to fulfil its mandated goals
Banknotes: July to September 2024
A round-up of news and salient issues that have affected central bankers in the past three months
Campos Neto on inflation targeting, independence and the future of financial intermediation
The Brazilian governor speaks with Christopher Jeffery about tackling inflation, the need for financial autonomy, and redefining the financial landscape with open finance, programmable Pix, deposit tokenisation and sound cross-border payments governance
People: July to September 2024
A round-up of central bankers in the news and on the move during the past three months
Book notes: Easy money, cryptocurrency, casino capitalism, and the golden age of fraud, Ben McKenzie with Jacob Silverman
Casts light on how shady crypto characters defraud consumers but does little to identify and control such fraudsters while protecting the public
Book notes: How a ledger became a central bank: a monetary history of the Bank of Amsterdam, by Stephen Quinn and William Roberds
A masterful piece of monetary history that is relevant to modern-day central bankers
Book notes: Bucking the buck: US financial sanctions and the international backlash against the dollar, by Daniel McDowell
A timely and well-documented book about the weaponisation of the US dollar
BNM’s Rasheed on inflation, growth and currency performance in emerging markets
Bank Negara Malaysia’s governor speaks about balancing inflation and growth, supporting the ringgit, multilateral currency settlement and greening Islamic finance
Masaaki Shirakawa on his ‘unease’ about 2% inflation targets and lessons from Japan
The former Bank of Japan governor speaks with Christopher Jeffery about the need to properly understand the business of banking, making sound contingency plans and the BoJ’s current policy constraints
Book notes: The wealth of a nation, by Geoffrey Hodgson
This book provides a deep dive into the economic and institutional transformations that supported the rise of English capitalism
BoJ hawkishness due to weak yen belies wage inflation concerns
The contrast in Japan-US economic, price and wage performance and their implications for monetary policies
Lessons from the banking turmoil of 2023
Guardrails on capital, liquidity, deposit insurance, resolution, digitalisation and disintermediation need a rethink
Lkhagvasuren Byadran on geopolitics, gold and 100 years of central banking on the steppe
Bank of Mongolia governor Lkhagvasuren Byadran speaks about monetary and financial reform, embracing AI and fintech, and Mongolia’s new SWF
Banknotes: April to June 2024
A round-up of news and salient issues that have affected central bankers in the past three months
People: April to June 2024
A round-up of central bankers in the news and on the move during the past three months
Are low-level inflation targets still fit for purpose?
Geostrategic shifts make the case for a narrow price target less compelling
Book notes: Balance of power: central banks and the fate of democracies, by Éric Monnet and translated by Steven Rendall
This short book offers partial insights, but ultimately underwhelms
Risks facing central banks: action and inaction
Unlike Fed policy in the 1990s, central bank actions this century do not appear overly accommodative, given poor policy decisions elsewhere, writes Andrew Smithers