New Zealand
OECD urges RBNZ to adopt debt-to-income restrictions
The OECD said adding a debt-to-income limit to the RBNZ’s macro-prudential instruments could increase the resilience of bank balance sheets
Wheeler hits out at commercial bank for unforgiving commentary
RBNZ governor says commentary threatens its integrity, damaging the central bank and financial markets; former RBNZ official says Wheeler overreacting
RBNZ consults on DTI limits with full macro-pru review scheduled for 2018
Central bank evaluates benefits of limit and how it would interact with current macro-pru policies; consultation offers reassurance to households about welfare costs
Growth in offshore funding is creating risks – RBNZ
Financial stability report notes growing reliance of banks on offshore funding sources could become a problem; housing market risks require new prudential tools
Forecasting would improve with more regular data, says RBNZ’s McDermott
New Zealand is one of two advanced economies that uses quarterly data instead of monthly; current schedule has limited forecast improvements, RBNZ assistant governor says
IMF urges new macro-pru tools for RBNZ to tackle housing market
Debt-to-income tools would complement existing macro-prudential toolkit and help rein in household credit, fund says; RBNZ in pursuit of such powers but decision must come from government
RBNZ’s Krippner: term structure models can make for better policy
Central bank economist talks about his work on modelling monetary policy at the zero lower bound, and what comes next
People: RBNZ’s Bascand takes new role; Lithuanian deputy reappointed
Geoff Bascand becomes head of financial stability; Raimondas Kuodis gets a second term; Bank of Israel promotes two officials
New Zealand government reviews monetary policy process
Opposition pledges it will make major changes to central bank mandate if elected
RBNZ paper develops ‘intuitive and reliable’ output gap measure
Authors turn to a “Beveridge-Nelson filter” to produce an output gap estimate that performs better than those produced by other filtering techniques
RBNZ paper sets out new house price indexes
Improved dataset allows design of three new indexes, all of which produce “credible-looking” outcomes
RBNZ to rethink capital requirements
Review will reassess country’s approach to Basel III implementation, after Australia decides to bolster its banks’ capital to be “unquestionably strong”
RBNZ presses ahead with dashboard plan, despite bank concerns
Banks raise fears over the dashboard plan to publish disclosures on RBNZ website, but the central bank says it believes it can address all the concerns
Economics in central banking: Leo Krippner
His work on term structure modelling has helped central bank policy-makers to track the effects of unconventional policies and it raises many interesting possibilities for future research
RBNZ paper sheds light on core macro model
'NZSIM' is a semi-structural model, with a DSGE core augmented with a handful of additional equations
New Zealand central bank asks for more macro-prudential powers
Capital’s housing prices "among the highest in the world", report says; heightened debt levels among farmers leave sector "vulnerable to future shocks"
Australasia has avoided stagnation trend – RBNZ’s Bascand
Different household behaviour in Australia and New Zealand appears to have contributed to higher growth and investment
RBNZ delivers rate cut as exchange rate strength persists
Board reaffirmed move in light of Trump victory, but cut has been in the offing for some time as NZ dollar strength holds down inflation
RBNZ’s Spencer sees need for better approach to FMI oversight
The framework, if put into legislation, would give the central bank and markets authority new powers of information-gathering and oversight
RBNZ moves to publish policy rate forecasts
Central bank scraps forecasts of 90-day bank bill rate as relationship with policy rate has been affected by global regulatory changes
Further policy easing will be required – RBNZ assistant governor
Another rate cut on the cards despite improved inflation outlook, says McDermott, emphasising need for accommodative monetary policy to push inflation to middle of target range
‘Significant progress’ on infrastructure overhaul – RBNZ annual report
Past year saw progress on replacement RTGS system, decision on new securities clearing system and the start of a project to modernise Treasury functions
RBNZ floats idea of bank regulatory dashboard
Bringing regulatory disclosures together in one place could impose market discipline and allow more straightforward comparison of risks, central bank says
RBNZ tweaks LVR rules following consultation
New rules to apply to investors nationwide, placing 5% “speed limit” for lending above LVRs of 60%; proposed new measures to come into force in October due to banks’ deadline concerns