Europe
Will the ECB take its key rate past 4%?
French and Spanish governors say policy is working, but Nagel warns pace is too slow
Reserve managers vote BlackRock as overall best asset manager
Goldman Sachs and “other” asset management firms also score highly
Stress-testing the banking system: what lies ahead?
Pedro Duarte Neves says stress tests must evolve to capture systemic, liquidity and cyber risks
High income countries less likely to tranche reserves
Overall, 72.4% of central banks divide their portfolios into liquidity and investment sections
‘Illiquid lemon markets’ can worsen crises – NBER paper
Authors extend George Akerlof’s Nobel prize-winning work to the macroeconomy
Fewer than half of reserve managers perform liquidity stress tests
Approach tends to be more common among African and American institutions
FX reserves commonly invested in US Treasuries, bank deposits
SIBs and EU NextGeneration fund trail behind, as reserve managers avoid infrastructure and crypto
Few central banks expanded existing swap lines over the past year
Nearly one-third of new and existing lines are denominated in US dollars
Trade in other currencies will reduce USD reserves share, say managers
Over 72% of respondents believe efforts to denominate trade in other currencies will have long-term effect
External managers hired to set up new asset classes and train staff
Central banks also look to external managers to boost returns and access market intelligence
Reserve managers cut duration as top inflation-proofing strategy
No respondent reports expansion into non-conventional assets
ECB raises rates to all-time high of 4%
Lagarde says “solid majority” supported raise but says some members opposed it
Boards responsible for benchmark approval at most central banks
Over half of lower-middle income respondents favour investment committee over other methods
ECB criticises Italy’s windfall tax on banks
Central bank warns measure could hamper monetary transmission and weaken lenders
ECB nominates Bundesbank’s Buch as new head of supervision
Governing council votes for German official over Bank of Spain deputy governor
Central banks’ average import coverage ratio falls further
Upper-middle income institutions tend to have a higher ratio
Reserve management staff salaries increase by almost 6% from last year
Staff in Europe remain the best paid globally
Managers divided on sanctions effect on US dollar as reserve currency
Over 43% say it will weaken its status, but nearly 40% say it will not have meaningful long-term impact
Eurozone industrial activity likely to decline, analysts say
French and Spanish increase is unlikely to offset German contractions, observers argue
Eurozone inflation expectations remain stagnant
Consumers’ 12-month expectations remain unchanged at 3.4%
Eurozone soft landing depends on Phillips curve – Schnabel
Executive board member says evidence is hard to read, calling for “robust” policy-making
ECB paper explores best response to inefficient capital flows
Exchange rate pass-through is key to whether policy should tighten or loosen, authors find
Almost all central banks run stress tests on lenders
Most respondents say they conduct tests more than once a year
Lagarde envisions new model for world of ‘shifts and breaks’
ECB chief predicts bigger supply shocks and relative price swings in future