Category: Central banks

Claire Jones The week ahead in central banking

February 3, 2012 3:00 pm by Claire Jones

Our week ahead email helps you track the most important events in central banking. To see all of our emails and alerts visit www.ft.com/nbe

Bank of England, ECB decisions

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and the European Central Bank’s governing council will set policy for the coming month on Thursday.

The Bank is expected to announce further quantitative easing after finishing the £75bn-worth of purchases announced in October.

Analysts are wavering, however, on whether the Bank will opt for £50bn or £75bn in additional asset purchases.

Continue reading: “The week ahead in central banking”

Posted in Central banks |

Claire Jones Bringing banks to account

January 19, 2012 4:18 pm by Claire Jones

In comments released today, Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s executive director for financial stability, has called for “a radical rethink” of banks’ accounting rules, the reason being that the rules as they stand have done much to destabilise the financial system.

To date, accounting rules for banks have bent with the financial stability wind in ways which have amplified investor and regulatory uncertainty. To lean against the prevailing wind, accounting rules for banks may need to recognise more explicitly their differences.

As Mr Haldane notes, this is a debate that over the past century has been shaped by financial crises.

Continue reading: “Bringing banks to account”

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Posted in Bank of England, Central banks |

Claire Jones The week ahead in central banking

January 13, 2012 4:04 pm by Claire Jones

Our week ahead email helps you track the most important events in central banking. To see all of our emails and alerts visit www.ft.com/nbe

Volcker rule

Daniel Tarullo, the governor tasked with the regulation brief at the Federal Reserve Board, will answer questions on the Volcker rule following criticisms by the Japanese and Canadian authorities this week.

Continue reading: “The week ahead in central banking”

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Posted in Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Central banks, European Central Bank, Federal Reserve |

Claire Jones How does Mr Hildebrand’s pay compare?

January 12, 2012 6:12 pm by Claire Jones

Controversy over Philipp Hildebrand continues to rage. This from the FT’s Haig Simonian:

The Swiss National Bank will pay its former chairman a full year’s salary of about SFr900,000 ($942,000), in spite of his stepping down voluntarily in only the second week of the year.

The bank said Philipp Hildebrand’s contract entitled him to 12 months’ pay. The first six months covered his notice period, with the remainder compensating him for a clause in his contract that prevents him from working for another bank until next January.

The pay-off will stoke a political storm in Switzerland over Mr Hildebrand’s departure following revelations of currency transactions by his wife, and is likely to fuel the wider debate in Europe over bankers’ remuneration.

At Sfr900,000, Mr Hildebrand’s salary is high for the head of a central bank. The terms of his severance package are also generous. 

Continue reading: “How does Mr Hildebrand’s pay compare?”

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Posted in Bank of England, Central banks, Federal Reserve, Swiss National Bank |

Claire Jones Live blog: ECB presser

January 12, 2012 1:15 pm by Claire Jones
Mario Draghi. Image by Getty.

Mario Draghi. Image by Getty.

Welcome to Money Supply’s live blog covering ECB president Mario Draghi’s first press conference of 2012.

This post should update automatically every few minutes, although it might take longer on mobile devices.

 

 

14.36 The live blog is now closed.

14.34 The press conference ends. The euro is now up 0.72 per cent against the dollar for the day.

14.33 Mr Draghi on whether today’s successful Spanish bond auction was evidence of the Sarkozy/Noyer trade:

Continue reading: “Live blog: ECB presser”

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Posted in Central banks, European Central Bank, European Union (EU) |

Claire Jones Monetary policy’s Catch 22

December 6, 2011 5:14 pm by Claire Jones

Because monetary policy acts with a lag, it has to rely on forecasts.

However, as the Bank of England’s attempts at prediction have illustrated, central banks’ forecasts, and indeed those of most economists, tend to be pretty dire.

This is what Svante Öberg, first deputy governor of Sweden’s Riksbank, refers to in a speech out today as the “Catch-22 of monetary policy.” So what’s a central banker to do? 

Continue reading: “Monetary policy’s Catch 22″

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Posted in Bank of England, Central banks, Riksbank |

Claire Jones Live blog: Sir Mervyn King at the Treasury committee

November 28, 2011 2:45 pm by Claire Jones
Sir Mervyn King. Image by Getty.

Sir Mervyn King. Image by Getty.

Welcome to our live blog on Sir Mervyn King’s appearance at the Treasury select committee.

The governor has been called before the committee to field questions on the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest inflation report, which came out earlier this month.

Reporting by Claire Jones. All times are GMT.

17.16 This live blog is now closed.

17.14 Given that the hearing was supposed to be about the MPC’s inflation report, it was ironic that the governor ended up revealing more about what the FPC is likely to recommend in the financial stability report later this week.

Continue reading: “Live blog: Sir Mervyn King at the Treasury committee”

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Posted in Bank of England, Central banks, European Union (EU) |
From Gavyn Davies September 16, 2011

By Gavyn Davies

Mervyn King

Mervyn King. Image by Getty.

A few weeks ago, the big central banks were calmly embarking on their “exit” strategies from unconventional monetary accommodation. Then the global economy slowed but for a while inflation remained too high for the Fed or the ECB to consider further easing. Their hands were tied until inflation peaked. Recognising this, markets collapsed. But now that there are some tentative signs of inflation subsiding, the central banks are rediscovering their ammunition stores.

There are basically three types of action that they are considering. In order of orthodoxy, and stealing some of Mervyn King’s terminology, here is a taxonomy of possible measures:

Continue reading: “Central banks are back in the fray”

Posted in Central banks |
From FT.com September 15, 2011

The world’s main central banks have launched concerted action to tackle dollar funding problems in Europe, sending banks’ share prices sharply higher across the continent.

The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and Switzerland’s central bank said they would provide three-month loans to tide banks over until the end of the year. As well as the immediate relief offered to banks, the co-ordinated action amounted to a display of firepower, apparently further intended to boost investor confidence.

Continue reading: “Central banks ease lender funding crisis”

Posted in Central banks |

Chris Giles Is it monetary or fiscal policy?

September 13, 2011 2:46 pm by Chris Giles

This is a question that is exercising central banks and politicians around the world when it comes to quantitative easing.

Creating money is clearly a monetary operation  - only a central bank has a monopoly right to issue base money. What you do with any money created is much more of a moot point as Adam Posen argues in a speech today.

One line to draw is on taking risks. As Mr Posen states, the Bank of England has drawn its line here:

“Getting into credit risk assessment through buying specific assets both is not a strength of the Bank, and would expose the Bank excessively to the perception of favoring specific interests”.

Continue reading: “Is it monetary or fiscal policy?”

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Posted in Central banks |
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The Money Supply team

Chris Giles Chris Giles has been the economics editor of the Financial Times since 2004. Based in London, he writes about international economic trends and the British economy. Before reporting economics for the Financial Times, he wrote editorials for the paper, reported for the BBC, worked as a regulator of the broadcasting industry and undertook research for the Institute for Fiscal Studies. RSS

Ralph Atkins, Frankfurt bureau chief, has been writing about European economics and politics for the Financial Times for more than 20 years following an economics degree from Cambridge. He has been watching the European Central Bank and eurozone economies since 2004. He has previously worked in London, Bonn, Berlin, Jerusalem and Brussels. RSS

Robin Harding is the FT's US economics editor, based in Washington. Prior to this, he was based in Tokyo, covering the Bank of Japan and Japan's technology sector, and in London as an economics leader writer. Robin studied economics at Cambridge and has a masters in economics from Hitotsubashi University, where he was a Monbusho scholar. Before joining the FT, Robin worked in asset management and banking. RSS

Claire Jones is Money Supply economics team writer, based in London. Before joining the Financial Times, she was the editor of the Central Banking journal and CentralBanking.com. Claire studied philosophy and economics at the London School of Economics. RSS

James Politi is US economics and trade correspondent for the Financial Times, based in Washington DC. He joined the Washington bureau in January 2008 following four and a half years as US deals correspondent covering M&A and private equity. James Politi joined the FT in London in 2000 with an MSc at the London School of Economics, and undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Florence. RSS

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