Financial market infrastructure
FDIC chair says US community banks must upgrade technology
“Banks, if you do not innovate, you will lose in the long run,” Jelena McWilliams warns
Albanian central bank introduces first polymer notes
Governor calls on parliament to approve draft law on improving payments systems
ECB’s Mersch attacks Facebook over ‘cartel-like’ libra structure
Senior ECB official accuses currency project of “treacherous promises”
Tanzanian central bank fines lenders over in-country data centres
Move comes as doubts grow over quality of banking sector and official statistics
Lagarde calls for eurozone-wide fiscal capacity
Eurozone nations should have counter-cyclical fiscal instrument and common treasury – Lagarde
Firms must prepare for reference rate transition – ECB working group
New €STR rate will be recalculated on same day if major errors are detected, report says
Derivatives users split over legacy Libor swaps
CCPs say cleared swaps will move to new rates if Libor is no longer representative of markets
Thai central bank to work with HKMA on cross-border blockchain
Central banks to work on blockchain-based cross-border funds transfer technology
Hurricane forecasting has ‘significant effects’ on financial markets – Fed
Cutting forecast errors could reduce additional volatility, researchers say
ECCB launches public debt investor information website
New website could help solve “long-standing issue” of excess liquidity, ECCB governor says
Ukrainian central bank to introduce IBAN for banking system
Use of system will bring Ukrainian banks closer to European Union practices
EU risks creating unlevel playing field in fintech – EBA report
European fintech companies are increasingly coming under EU regulation, report says
BIS to set up three fintech innovation hubs
New hubs will be set up in Hong Kong, Singapore and Basel
BoE drops Libor for hedging UK forex reserves
Bank of England adopts Sonia reference rate in UK Treasury swap programme
High-frequency trading can harm market liquidity – ECB paper
Researcher finds increased competition can lead to rise in speculative strategies
Fed pushes big banks to tally CVA for central counterparties
Banks told to quantify exposure to CCPs for annual stress tests
Norges Bank to administer Nowa benchmark rate from 2020
The rate is calculated based on data provided by 11 banks
Nepal’s central bank bans Chinese mobile payment platforms
Alipay and WeChat Pay banned; foreign payment services must register in Nepal
Swift announces trials with ECB instant payment system
Linking “Swift gpi” to ECB’s Tips will greatly reduce delays in settlement, consortium says
ECB raises concerns over new Cyprus agency
Powers given to digital security agency should not prejudice those of ECB, opinion warns
ESRB publishes scenario for CCP stress tests
Esma announces UK-based CCPs will still be covered in event of “no-deal Brexit” on April 12
HKMA grants first three virtual banking licences
Move is “major milestone” for Hong Kong’s efforts to compete as financial centre
EBA launches register of payment and electronic money firms
Freely available online register brings together national authorities’ data
ECB to publish new reference rate in October
New rate should fully replace Eonia by beginning of 2022, ECB says