Central Banking
Italy govt prepares to defuse bank loan crisis
Italy's government on Tuesday prepared to defuse a potential crisis threatening the country's banks, which may have to refund customers huge amounts of loan interest payments after a Supreme Court ruling.
Vietnam banks dispute compulsory reserve ratios
Commercial banks have criticised the central bank's increase of the compulsory ratio of deposit reserves from this month from 8% to 12% for call and less than 12-month deposits in the dollar.
Oman cenbank plans Electronic Fund Transfer system
Oman's central bank proposes to introduce Electronic Funds Transfer system to facilitate faster and accurate domestic inter-bank payments.
House okays new Philippines Central Bank Act
The Philippines House of Representatives approved on second reading Tuesday evening, a measure introducing amendments to the Central Bank Act. Representatives said the new Central Bank Act would improve the Bangko Sentral's effectiveness and strengthen…
Irish hoarding of coins poses euro problem
The image of the Irish hoarding their untaxed earnings under the mattress may be apocryphal, but a study published on Monday estimated that as much as I£30m (E38.1m) in coins may be kept in jam jars, glass bottles, biscuit tins even in shoe boxes.
Broaddus says US economic outlook extremely cloudy
A Federal Reserve policymaker said Monday the US economic outlook is growing increasingly murky but he said he remains confident the economy will avoid a recession or an inflation outbreak the coming months.
Buba's Stark - US growth slowdown coming true
Bundesbank deputy president Juergen Stark said on Monday he was pleased with the euro's appreciation and said the slowdown in US economic growth appeared to be materialising.
Former Ukraine bank governor under investigation
An investigation into the alleged misuse of funds by the former first deputy chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, Volodymyr Bondar, is under way, Ukrainian television's Third Programme reported.
Hungary cenbank council may become dysfunctional
The supervisory board of the National Bank of Hungary is concerned that the central bank council may become unable to function and make decisions after 20 February 2001, according to the daily Vilaggazdasag.
Czech govt recognises Tuma as c.bank head-for now
The Czech government agreed on Monday to recognise last week's appointment of Zdenek Tuma as the country's central bank governor for the time being, easing tensions over the naming by President Vaclav Havel last week.
BoE Allsopp - tighter fiscal stance needed
The British government should tighten its tax and spending plans if it wants lower interest rates, Bank of England rate-setter Christopher Allsopp said in a book published Monday.
Bank urges balancing act over payments competition
The Bank of England has warned the UK government that its plans to increase competition in the payments business must be balanced by the need to preserve the stability of the financial system.
Lawyers dispute over PM's decision on new CNB head
The possibility that the appointment of the new Cezch central bank governor must be blessed by the prime minister has given rise to disputes among experts, who are not able to reach agreement on whether the counter-signature of a cabinet member is…
Indonesia to issue fresh bonds to help banks
Indonesia will issue new bank bail out bonds with higher interest rates next week in the hope of kick-starting a secondary bond market and resurrecting their $68.8 billion banking rescue effort.
Fed helps Bank with rate study
The Bank of England, the UK central bank, has commissioned an investigation by a senior official of the US Federal Reserve to assess the way it sets interest rates, says an article in today's Financial Times.
US Fed needs to improve communication-Fed's Poole
The Federal Reserve needs to improve its communication skills so that financial markets can better understand what US central bankers are thinking, St Louis Fed President William Poole said on Thursday.
Ukraine c.bank sees hryvnia steady near-term
Ukraine's fragile hryvnia currency is likely to remain steady in the next two months, backed by stronger demand ahead of the year-end, Serhiy Yaremenko, the head of the central bank currency regulation department, said on Thursday.
ECB leaves all key interest rates unchanged
The European Central Bank kept all of its three key short-term interest rates unchanged Thursday.The decision was expected by the market, as past rate hikes - already six this year - have yet to feed through into the real economy, and the ECB will want…
Oil, minimum wage hike led to Brazilian rate hold
Despite a slowdown in inflation in recent months, concerns about the impact of a hike in the minimum salary and volatile oil prices led Brazil's central bank to keep its key interbank interest rate steady, according to minutes of last week's monetary…
Peru's central bank governor asked to stay on
Peru's new president Valetin Paniagua has said that the president of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru and the directors of the central bank, who had offered their resignations with the change in government, would stay in their posts.
Russia and Belarus move towards single currency
The Russian Federation government has approved the draft agreement between Russia and Belarus concerning the introduction of a single currency and the establishment of a single centre of issue of the Union State.
Taiwan central bank attacks HSBC over T$ forecast
Taiwan's central bank lashed out at Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp (HSBC) on Thursday, saying it had consistently undervalued the local currency in its foreign exchange forecasts.
CNB dispute may damage central bank's independence
The Czech government on Wednesday refused to approve the president's appointment of Zdenek Tuma as governor of the Czech National Bank, escalating a dispute that could damage the stability and independence of the central bank, The Financial Times writes…
Turk c.bank decision sparks money market turmoil
Turkey's central bank on Thursday shut off the taps of the emergency funding it has carried out over the last six trading days to ease a liquidity crunch sparked by fears of a banking sector crisis.