Fed tightens control over banks activities
byOn Tuesday July 2, US central bank policy makers voted in favour of the US version of the global bank rules known as the…
Bank reform demands monetary reform – an essay for Banking 2020
byThis article was published yesterday at stevebaker.info. Today sees the return of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill to Parliament. It does not do enough. In…
The problem with regulation
byIt is seems to be universally agreed that regulation is a good thing, ensuring that people are treated fairly by unscrupulous businesses. Regulation is…
Forward Guidance? – Nonsense! Central bankers have no choice.
byAfter two decades of serial bubble-blowing, the world’s central bankers have maneuvered themselves into a corner. They created a monster in the form of…
Confessions of a central bank official (two in fact and one to come)
byCity A.M. reports today Dovish Carney stuns markets: EQUITY markets jumped yesterday after the Bank of England shocked investors by indicating that rates would…
Enter the Guv’nor
by“Mark Carney, the new governor of the Bank of England, could hardly have timed his arrival better. Even before he launched his bid to…
Gold’s undervaluation is extreme
byThe price of gold fell last week to the $1,200 level. The lemming sentiment in capital markets is uniformly bearish, yet every price-drop brings…
Russia and China building their gold reserves
byWestern economic commentary on China and Russia is usually coloured by monetarist assumptions not necessarily shared in Moscow and Beijing. For this reason, Russian…
Collateral transformation: the latest, greatest financial weapon of mass destruction
byBack in 2006, as the debate was raging whether or not the US had a mortgage credit and housing bubble, I had an ongoing,…
Can the Fed tighten its stance without much side-effect?
byAccording to most commentators, reducing monetary stimulus and winding down the balance sheet of the Fed without major economic disruptions is going to be…