Balance sheet
Jackson Hole: economists flag costs and benefits of bloated balance sheets
Economists including Christopher Sims, Ricardo Reis and Jeremy Stein unpack the economics of central bank balance sheets, identifying both dangers and potential benefits
IMF working paper encourages Italian banks to clean up balance sheets
Italian banks are likely to become more profitable as economy recovers, authors say, though their capacity to lend is linked to capital buffers
Irish bad bank shifts focus to delivering new property
National Asset Management Agency is shifting its focus to projects aimed at developing commercial and residential property; asset disposals to be reduced in scale as body winds down
Bank of Mauritius spells out cost-cutting measures
Central bank defends finances after posting losses in successive years; points to range of measures taken to reduce expenses, including release of "unproductive but fatly remunerated" employees
Advanced economies could learn from EM counterparts in managing balance sheets, paper says
Composition of advanced economies' balance sheets is aligning in some respects to their EM counterparts, largely as a consequence of increasing size since the financial crisis, paper says
Banks start to clean up balance sheets after RBI asset quality review
Efforts will enable flow of credit in the long term, deputy says; improving capital buffers and governance structures also beneficial
High debt tends to reduce consumption growth – Norges Bank memo
Research tries to capture diversity of household balance sheets, finding consumption tends to grow more slowly among those with high debt levels
BoE’s Bailey sets sights on balance sheet clarity
Clear disclosure of creditor hierarchies will be ‘critical’ moving forward, says Andrew Bailey; clarity in bank balance sheets is a ‘good thing’
BoE appoints Andrew Hauser to new executive director role
Head of Fair and Effective Markets Review appointed to new executive director role with responsibility over balance sheet risks, payments and banking operations
Noyer says ECB can cope with solvency risks
Banque de France governor flags risks from balance sheet expansion, but says the ECB is ‘fully protected’ against solvency risks
ECB to release assessment results on October 26
European Central Bank will publish results from asset quality review and stress tests later this month; Draghi says ‘further efforts will be needed’ from some banks
Draghi distinguishes ECB forward guidance from Fed and BoE variants
ECB president compares forward guidance across major central banks; channels John Maynard Keynes and warns that ‘without reform, there can be no recovery’
Dealing with ‘insidious' crises a ‘difficult proposition' for policy-makers, argues IMF paper
Conventional balance-sheet crises, however, are more effectively detected and contained than before the financial crisis, paper adds
Bundesbank paper explores liquidity shock transmission
Claudia Buch and Linda Goldberg summarise the findings of empirical studies conducted across 11 countries to explore liquidity risk transmission
Polish paper proposes new model for risk of ‘double default' on collateralised loans
Commonly used Gaussian copula-based approach does not properly capture the residual risk to central bank balance sheets posed by correlated defaults
'Intra-firm borrowing' reduces liquidity risk at 'global' US banks, say NY Fed staff
New York Fed staff report finds 'fundamental differences' between banks with and without foreign affiliates
Central American central bank losses smallest in 25 years
However, capital positions remain weak and would even be negative if claims on governments were valued according to cashflow, IMF study finds
Bank of Spain's Linde touts comeback of local banks
Governor says lenders' solvency position has improved noticeably from a year ago; highlights 'drastic reduction' in toxic assets on banks' balance sheet
External balance-sheet structure key in explaining the financial crisis
High gross external debt was indicator of subsequent vulnerability, according to BoE paper; finds ‘important interaction' between 'competing ‘savings glut' and ‘banking glut' hypotheses
Buffett’s ‘greatest hedge fund’ claim puts spotlight on the Fed
Warren Buffett's claim the Fed is ‘the greatest hedge fund in history’ fuels bloated balance sheet and politicisation debate; Fed veteran Gary Stern says 'sage of Omaha’s' comments are ‘misguided’
Employment losses have repaired corporate balance sheets, paper argues
Differences in post-crisis employment among EU members are largely driven by need in many countries to adjust balance sheets, according to IMF working paper
St Louis Fed president launches new household financial stability research centre
James Bullard unveils new research centre that will focus on understanding links between household balance sheets, the overall performance of the US economy, and stability and upward mobility
UAE central bank annual report shows sharp balance sheet expansion
Annual report for 2012 sees balance sheet growth driven largely by higher foreign exchange purchases; prudential measures implemented to shore up banking system
Bullard slams Fed’s 2012 policy
St Louis Fed president criticises ‘relatively weak’ Federal Reserve policy in 2012, but says new measures have now stepped easing up a gear