We describe the evolution of balance sheets of monetary financial institutions (MFI) in Portugal before, during, and after the sovereign debt crisis of the late 2000's. We account for several dimensions of heterogeneity including size, type, and nationality. We find that the Portuguese MFI...

We discuss the new Basel bank capital framework and the central bank's general approach to its practical implementation in the home-host context of Australia and New Zealand. Bank capital plays an important role in absorbing large financial losses, especially under severe downturn conditions....

This paper describes segregated balance accounts (SBAs), a concept for a new type of account that could provide increased competition for deposits, reduce system-wide balance sheet costs, and improve the transmission of monetary policy by facilitating greater pass-through of interest on excess...

Counterfeit prevention is a major task for central banks, as it helps to maintain public confidence in the currency. It is often maintained that a high quality of the banknotes in circulation helps the public detect counterfeits. However, there has not been any scientific evidence in support of...

On the basis of the European Commission’s 2015 Action Plan “on Building a Capital Markets Union” (CMU), as further specified in the 2017 “Mid-Term Review of the [CMU] Action Plan”, the European Parliament and the Council adopted on 27 November 2019 Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 “on...

Persistent inflation and slow stabilization are usually the result of policy accommodation resorted to in an attempt to avoid the recessionary costs of a sharp reduction of inflation. This paper reviews three explanations for why policymakers despite their dislike of inflation may nevertheless...

The conservative central banker has come under attack recently. On the basis of models in which there is explicit interaction between trade union behavior and monetary policy, it has been argued that if 'trade unions' are averse to inflation, welfare will be lower with a conservative than with a...

This paper derives a general framework for collateral risk control determination in repurchase transactions. The objective is to treat consistently heterogeneous collateral so that the collateral taker has a similar risk exposure whatever the collateral pledged. The framework measures the level...

This paper concerns an alternative of monetary policy operational framework for the newly created European Central Bank (ECB). Composed of 12 central banks (many of them with an outstanding prestige) it must create the new quality as the emerging single central bank of the large monetary union....