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Welcome to the Central Bank Insider Archives. We are pleased to be able to provide you with this intimate look at central banking events, policies, and staff. Commentary is updated as available (generally bi-weekly) and archived monthly. The source commentary "Newsmakers" is reprinted at USAGOLD with permission and by courtesy of Central Banking Publications Ltd.
13 December 2000
WHAT'S NEW!!
* Professor Charles Goodhart joins our advisory board
* Academic papers on central banking
NEWS THIS WEEK
* Trial nears for Indonesian central bank governor
* Uganda president nominates new central bank chief
* Hungary PM names new finance minister, c.bank head
* BIS says
US gold scheme suit 'without merit'
* BCB Fraga on the list of presidential candidates
* Staff morale inquiry at BoE could take 6 months
* Buba's Welteke says ECB rates appropriate now
* US academic applauds S.Africa's monetary policy
* Salaries of CNB chiefs down 50%, Greenspans's up 11%
* Estonia cbank, govt clash over finance supervision
* Failure
to agree on division of ex-Yugo gold
* Sri Lanka mkt surprised by rupee band adjustment
* Italy govt bides time over court bank-loan ruling
* Lithuanian and Polish cbanks sign supervisory deal
* Political storm over new CNB chief
* El Salvador dollarisation brings glimmer of growth
* Women in central banking
PAYMENT SYSTEMS CORNER
* Principles for financial plumbers - BoE John Trundle
* Oman cenbank plans electronic fund transfer system
* Bank of Spain's disclosure for settlement systems
* Italy MTS to adopt RTGS system soon
* BOJ commits to Jan 4 real-time settlement launch
ARTICLES OF THE WEEK
* Interview: The UK's top bank regulator Howard Davies
* Ten commandments for supervising mega-firms -George Vojta
* Combating harmful tax practices - OECD's William Witherell
**************************************
WHAT'S NEW!!
**************************************
Professor Charles Goodhart has joined our advisory board
We are very proud to announce
that Charles Goodhart, former member of MPC at the Bank of England
and Norman Sosnow Professor of Economics at the London School
of Economics, has joined the advisory board of Central Banking
Publications. Professor Goodhart is kindly giving an exclusive
interview for the next issue of the "Quarterly Journal of
Central Banking". Extracts will appear in "Central Bank
Newsmakers".
**************************************
Academic papers about central banking
As an expansion of our online services, I am now Editor of an email distribution list at the website of "New Economic Papers" in central banking. If you would like to receive free round up of major academic papers written about central banking visit the following website and subscribe: http://netec.wustl.edu/NEP/ (it is the fourth list down called nep-cba) or simply send an email to me and I will subscribe you.
**************************************
NEWS THIS WEEK ABOUT CENTRAL BANKS
**************************************
Trial nears for Indonesian central bank governor
The trial of Indonesia's central bank governor, Syahril Sabirin, over a year-old banking scandal looked imminent after the government said today (December 13) it would hand over documents relating to the case to a court next week. Some analysts have accused President Abdurrahman Wahid of using the issue as a personal vendetta against the governor who can at the moment only be removed from office by parliament. One Indonesian newspaper editorial recently noted that during the financial crisis, the central bank under Sabirin had closed two banks linked to President Wahid, suggesting this might be the reason for the president's witch-hunt.
Sabirin, who denies wrongdoing
and promises to fight to keep his job, returned to work last week
after almost six months in detention over the case. Last month,
five deputy governors resigned their posts including acting governor
Anwar Nasution because they felt "morally responsible"
for the problems Bank Indonesia has faced over the last few years.
Some of the governors were not even at the central bank during
the 1997-1999 when the events occurred. The governors remain in
place until the parliament passes a new Central Bank Act, which
should be in January next year.
13-December-2000
**************************************
Uganda president nominates new central bank chief
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni
has nominated Treasury Secretary Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile to
fill the vacant post of central bank governor, officials said
on Tuesday.
12-December-2000
**************************************
Hungary PM names new finance minister, c.bank head
Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban
said on Wednesday he would appoint Mihaly Varga finance minister
in place of Zsigmond Jarai, who would become central bank governor
as of March 1.
12-December-2000
**************************************
BIS says
US gold scheme suit 'without merit'
The Swiss-based Bank for International
Settlements rejected as baseless on Tuesday a US lawsuit alleging
the BIS conspired with central banks and major international investment
houses to keep the price of gold low.
(http://www.goldensextant.com/Complaint.html#anchor3130)
12-December-2000
**************************************
BCB Fraga on the list of presidential candidates
Brazil's right-wing coalition
PFL party president Jorge Bornhausen named Banco Central do Brasil
chairman Arminio Fraga as a candidate for the 2002 presidential
elections who could achieve unanimity between the government coalition.
12-December-2000
**************************************
Staff morale inquiry at BoE could take 6 months
An inquiry into ailing staff
morale at Britain's central bank ought to be completed within
six months, a member of its governing body, Baroness Noakes, said
on Tuesday.
12-December-2000
**************************************
Buba's Welteke says ECB rates appropriate now
Bundesbank President Ernst Welteke
said on Tuesday that current Eurozone interest rates were appropriate
and reiterated that the European Central Bank's monetary policy
was not hampering economic growth. Welteke also warned against
the hasty acceptance of new members into the EU's monetary union,
saying that the Maastricht criteria should be applied "strictly".
12-December-2000
**************************************
US academic applauds S.Africa's monetary policy.
Harvard University academic
Robert Barro endorsed the South African Reserve Bank's inflation
targeting on Tuesday and said the country's monetary policy was
in sound health.
12-December-2000
**************************************
Salaries of CNB chiefs down almost 50%, Greenspans's up by
11%
The salaries of members of the
Czech National Bank board will be lowered to almost one half starting
next year as a result of the new amendments to the law on the
central bank. The new law has been sharply criticised by the central
bank because they say it will make it difficult to attract and
retain experienced managers. On the other hand, last week the
US Congress decided to raise the salary of US Fed chairman Alan
Greenspan by 11%, boosting Mr Greenspan's pay to about $157,000
a year from $141,300, to put the Fed chief's pay on par with those
of US Cabinet members.
11-December-2000
**************************************
Estonia cbank, govt clash over finance supervision
The Estonian central bank has
said the finance ministry had unexpectedly decided to create a
unified financial supervision body with the government, and was
sharply critical of the plan.
11-December-2000
**************************************
Failure
to agree on division of ex-Yugo gold
The governors and vice-governors
of central banks which emerged after the break-up of the former
Yugoslav federation failed to reach an agreement on the distribution
of gold and foreign currency reserves at the International Bank
for Settlements in Basel in Belgrade on Tuesday. Mladjan Dinkic,
the newly elected governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia,
is hosting the talks. Bosnia and Macedonia want to get a greater share of the gold than set out in the formula devised
by the IMF.
12-December-2000
**************************************
Sri Lanka mkt surprised by rupee band adjustment
The Sri Lankan central bank's
third one-off adjustment of the rupee trading band Monday - amid
rocketing import costs - took the markets by surprise once again.
11-December-2000
**************************************
Litas to be pegged amid preparations for EU
Lithuania, while preparing for
its membership in the European Union (EU), plans to keep litas
pegged to dollar and later to euro, the board of the Bank of Lithuania
announced after discussing its participation in the processes
of Lithuania's preparation for the EU membership.
11-December-2000
**************************************
Italy govt bides time over court bank-loan ruling
Italian Treasury minister Vincenzo
Visco said on Thursday the government had yet to decide what action
to take after the Supreme Court ruled banks should refund loan
interest payments amounting to billions of euros. Bank of Italy
governor Antonio Fazio warned the government this week that if
the Supreme Court ruling were to be applied, it could cost foreign
and domestic banks between 15 trillion and 50 trillion lire ($6.8-23
billion).
7-December-2000
**************************************
Lithuanian and Polish cbanks sign supervisory deal
Governors of the central banks
of Poland and Lithuania on Thursday signed an agreement to facilitate
banking supervision between the two countries. The Lithuanian
central bank said the agreement would help to unify banking supervision
standards that will aid in regulating the activities of banks
operating across the neighbouring countries' borders.
7-December-2000
**************************************
IMF offers $10bn to ease Turkish banking crisis
The International Monetary Fund
said it will provide more than $10 billion in financial support
for Turkey to help ease a sharp liquidity crisis that has sent
the country's interest rates soaring and depleted central bank
reserves.
6-December-2000
**************************************
Political storm over new CNB chief
President Vaclav Havel outraged
political opponents last Friday afternoon when he announced that
40-year-old Vice Governor Zdenek Tuma would be named to replace
Josef Tosovsky as governor of the Czech National Bank starting
Dec. 1. Tuma had said a few days earlier that interest rates might
have to rise. Both Prime Minister Milos Zeman and his counterpart
from the Civic Democrats, parliamentary chairman Vaclav Klaus,
have spoken out against Tuma's appointment.
27-November-2000
**************************************
El Salvador dollarisation brings glimmer of growth
Following President Flores's
recent announcement concerning the "dollarisation" of
the Salvadoran economy, he has outlined the process behind this
decision. He pledged to anchor the colon to the dollar at his
inauguration and has spent the last eight months developing his
economic recovery plan with the support of the IMF, IADB and World
Bank.
25-November-2000
**************************************
Prominent female central bankers
Cheryl-Ann Lister, Chairman,
Bermudan Monetary Authority
Audette Exel, Director, Bermudan Monetary Authority
Victoria Asfura de Díaz, President, Central Bank of Honduras
Marcia Woolridge-Allwood - Deputy General Manager
Lilja Steinthorsdottir, Chief Auditor, Central Bank of Iceland
Erla Arnadottir, Chief Accountant, Central Bank of Iceland
Stase Strickaite, Deputy Governor, Bank of Lithuania
Violeta Latviene, Member of the Board, Bank of Lithuania
Mrs Jacqueline Loh, Head of European & Australian Bond Investments,
Monetary Authority of Singapore
Linnette Wilson, Director of Banking, Bank of Jamaica
Louise Brown, Director, Economic Information, Bank of Jamaica
Pauline Green, Director of Research, Bank of Jamaica
Gail Lue Lim, Director, Economic Programme Monitoring, Bank of
Jamaica
Hillary Robertson, Director, Monetary analysis & Programming,
Bank of Jamaica
Natalie Haynes, Director, Foreign Exchange, Bank of Jamaica
Novelette Panton, Director, Human Resources, Bank of Jamaica
Monica Brown, Director, Financial Supervisory Div., Bank of Jamaica
Maurene Simms, Director, Financial Supervisory Div., Bank of Jamaica
Denise Price Hoo, Director, Financial Supervisory Div., Bank of
Jamaica
Carmen Myrie, Administrator, Training Institute, Bank of Jamaica
Fay Abrams Joseph, Advisor, Human Resource Management, Bank of
Jamaica
Helen McIntosh, Advisor, Banking & Market Operations, Bank
of Jamaica
Pamela Miller Wright, Director, Legal Affairs, Bank of Jamaica
**************************************
The Reserve Bank of Fiji has launched its website at
http://www.reservebank.gov.fj
**************************************
PAYMENT SYSTEMS CORNER
**************************************
Principles for financial plumbers - BoE John Trundle
Payment systems, the "plumbing
underpinning international capital markets", are too often
ignored. John Trundle from the Bank of England, who recently helped
devise new standards for payment system safety, explains what
changes are needed in the latest issue of The Financial Regulator.
6-December-2000
**************************************
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. 5-December-2000
**************************************
Bank of Spain's disclosure for settlement systems
In February 1997 the CPSS/BIS
published the "Disclosure framework for securities settlement"
that was elaborated together with IOSCO. Many securities settlement
systems have in the meantime made information on their system's
operation and its allocation of risks available to the general
public. The Spanish central bank has now published a revised version
of the responses to the disclosure framework for the Spanish CADE.
See http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss20r9.pdf 25-November-2000
**************************************
Italy MTS to adopt RTGS system soon
MTS SpA, Italy's secondary bond
market operator, will soon adopt real-time gross settlement (RTGS)
for bond operations to replace current end-of-day settlement,
MTS deputy director general Ezio Dosa said on Wednesday.
22-November-2000
**************************************
BOJ commits to Jan 4 real-time settlement launch
Bank of Japan governor Masaru
Hayami said on Tuesday the central bank would stick with the January
4 launch date for its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system
for government debt and money market transactions.
21-November-2000
**************************************
ARTICLES OF THE WEEK - "THE FINANCIAL REGULATOR"
**************************************
Interview: Howard Davies
Following the passage of the
Financial Services and Markets Act, the UK,s Financial Services
Authority is gearing up to assume full legal powers as the UK,s
single regulator. In an exclusive interview, Howard Davies, FSA
chairman and chief executive, explained to Central Banking's Neil
Courtis how the new model will work.
**************************************
Ten commandments for supervising mega-firms
If supervisors are to contain the risks posed by global financial conglomerates, urgent changes are needed. George J. Vojta, former vice-chairman of Bankers Trust, proposes ten principles for supervising systemically important financial institutions.
If you would like copies of
this excellent article, email my colleague Neil Courtis on ncourtis@centralbanking.co.uk
**************************************
Combating harmful tax practices
The OECD wants to stop wealthier taxpayers leaving the poor to foot the tax bill. In the latest issue of "The Financial Regulator", Dr William Witherell, Director, Financial, Fiscal and Enterprise Affairs, OECD, addresses some misunderstandings about the OECD,s campaign on tax competition.
© Copyright 2002 Central Banking Publications. All rights reserved. Reprinted at USAGOLD by permission.
Benedict
Mander
Email: bmander@centralbanking.co.uk
Central Banking Publications Ltd
6 Langley Street, London WC2H 9JA, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7836 3625
Fax: +44 (0)20 7836 3608
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