What central banks say about cryptocurrencies

Eight years since the birth of bitcoin, central banks around the world are increasingly recognizing the potential upsides and downsides of digital currencies. The guardians of the global economy have two sets of issues to address. First is what to do, if anything, about emergence and growth of the private cryptocurrencies that are grabbing more and more attention — with ...

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Who will fund clean energy? Familiar faces

People who invest in the world’s energy systems often want to know how many trillions of dollars will be needed to finance renewable energy and natural gas. One way to find the answer is to look at what those who have already invested trillions of dollars want to happen as the world transitions to a lower-carbon power system and electrifies ...

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Era of low volatility will unwind formulaically

Sir John Templeton, the pioneer in global mutual funds, once said “the four most costly words in the annals of investing” are “this time is different.” That should resonate with monetary policy makers and institutional investors grappling with the causes, impacts and risks of the lowest market volatility, by far, in the era of modern finance. As this cycle of ...

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India holds rates as inflation nears central bank’s target

Bloomberg India’s central bank kept interest rates unchanged as rebounding inflation limits room to spur an economy struggling to recover from disruptive government policies. The benchmark repurchase rate was left at 6 percent, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement in Mumbai on Wednesday. Five of the six-member monetary policy committee voted for the move, which was predicted ...

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Bank Indonesia sees no need for policy move if CPI in target

Bloomberg Bank Indonesia sees no reason to adjust monetary policy if inflation and the currency remain in line with its forecasts, Assistant Governor Dody Budi Waluyo said. Inflation is still within the central bank’s target and the currency is sta- ble, Waluyo said on a panel at Bloomberg’s Year Ahead Asia Conference in Jakarta on Wednesday. “As long as our ...

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Hungary’s central bank joins ‘QE era’

Bloomberg Hungarian central bankers are joining the quantitative easing (QE) era just as major global counterparts such as the US Federal Reserve look to leave it. The National Bank of Hungary will start buying mortgage-backed securities from January in its latest move to bring investors to heel and drive down interest rates. Departing from the approach of most small central ...

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Nordea chief: Banker pay may fall when robots take over

Bloomberg The chief executive officer of Nordea Bank AB says his industry needs to rethink pretty much everything it’s doing to brace for the future. And that includes how much it’s paying bankers. The Nordic region’s biggest financial conglomerate is already in the process of cutting 6,000 jobs as part of a shift towards relying more on technology and less ...

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Plan to prevent banks from seducing regulators scrapped

Bloomberg A high-profile plan to prevent federal watchdogs from getting too cozy with banks they are supposed to police has been scrapped by President Donald Trump’s newest Wall Street regulator. For years, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency intended to remove hundreds of examiners who work inside the offices of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and other ...

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Bombardier stands against any Brexit border in Irish Sea

Bloomberg Bombardier Inc., whose Belfast aircraft plant is Northern Ireland’s biggest manufacturer, said it’s against any moves towards a Brexit deal that would effectively redraw the UK-Ireland border in the Irish Sea. Rather than benefit from a settlement keeping the province in a customs union with the Irish Republic to preserve boundary-free travel, the Belfast site, which employs 4,200 people, ...

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Amazon targets Etsy with last-minute delivery of craft gifts

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. will offer last-minute delivery of pottery, necklaces, candles and other handmade products ordered as late as Christmas Eve in nine US cities, looking to win orders from competing arts-and-crafts marketplace Etsy Inc. The online retailer will offer Amazon Handmade products through its two-hour delivery service Prime Now, which normally carries household convenience items found in drugstores. It’s ...

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