Central Banking
RBA’s board stresses uncertain outlook in latest minutes
Trade tensions, slower Chinese growth and local consumption outlook behind policy decision
Chinese lending hits all-time high in January
Total social financing reached roughly 240% of China’s GDP at end of month
GDP needs to be supplemented with welfare measure – economist
Daniel Sichel defends GDP as a measure of production, but says it is not enough on its own
UN report questions value of fintech sandboxes
Regulators are “unprepared” for the level of effort and resources needed to launch a sandbox, but complementary policies and thematic sandboxes could be the answer
ECB says Romanian government breached EU law over bank tax
Governor again warns emergency tax decree could harm banks and damage monetary policy
Riksbank to transfer Skr3.8 billion to Treasury
Profits have varied widely in recent years
Nordic-Baltic crisis simulation seeks to reinforce collective response
Nordic-Baltic Stability Group carried out first region-wide crisis scenario in January
RBI boosts Modi’s coffers with early dividend
Interim payout is larger than in 2018 and comes ahead of general election
Bank of Spain paper rejects bitcoin as alternative to large-scale payment system
Objectives of crypto asset make it unsatisfactory as a payment network – research
CBRT cuts reserve requirements, but stresses tight stance
Liquidity tools are more about transmission than policy stance, says Murat Çetinkaya
Flattening yield curve increased retail banks’ profits – Chicago Fed
The results reflect a change in banks’ business models after the financial crisis, researchers say
EU to cut price of cross-border euro payments
Amended law will also give customers information on currency conversion charges
Egypt sharply cuts rates on lower inflation
Central bank reduces key overnight deposit rate by 100 basis points to 15.75%
Volcker rule helped curb equity market risk – researchers
Banks had large trading exposures to equity market risk before the rule was introduced, they find
The answers to the 2018 Central Banking Christmas quiz
We reveal the answers to the Christmas quiz, and the winner
People: Stanley Fischer joins BlackRock in advisory role
Veteran central banker moves back to private sector; Jamaica begins search for new governor; El Salvador governor assumes presidency of regional council
Weak EU banks more likely to prop up ‘zombie firms’, ECB paper says
EU needs insolvency reform to reduce proportion of uncompetitive firms, researchers argue
African countries leveraging data for regtech
IMF paper shows countries are looking at how to use tech to streamline supervision processes
IMF prepares to overhaul its financial surveillance
Fund agrees with IEO report that there is much room for improvement, but budget remains an issue
PBoC issues 20 billion yuan of central bank bills in Hong Kong
Bills could help improve the yuan-denominated bond yield curve amid a lack of liquidity in the Dim Sum bonds market
MAS establishes long-term corporate governance committee
New body will replace short-term councils formed every few years
RBNZ adopts new dual policy target
New Zealand’s central bank will now have maximum employment target alongside inflation goal
Big tech companies poised to disrupt financial services – FSB
New report claims fintech hasn’t affected competition in financial sector, but big tech firms could pose stability risk
ECB paper presents new financial crisis early warning system
Model aggregates five types of systemic risk indicator, researchers say