Central Banking At A Crossroads

This book discusses the role of central banks and draws lessons from examining their evolution over the past two centuries.

This book reflects on the innovations that central banks have introduced since the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers to improve their modes of intervention, regulation and resolution of financial markets and financial institutions. Authors from both academia and policy circles explore these innovations through four approaches: ‘Bank Capital Regulation’ examines the Basel III agreement; ‘Bank Resolution’ focuses on effective regimes for regulating and resolving ailing banks; ‘Central Banking with Collateral-Based Finance’ develops thought on the challenges that market-based finance pose for the conduct of central banking; and ‘Where Next for Central Banking’ examines the trajectory of central banking and its new, central role in sustaining capitalism.

Globalisation and the governance of the international financial system have arrived at the crossroads, where either a coherent level playing field for the cross-border activities of banks and multinational enterprises is settled upon, or the risk of another crisis will build up again. This book will explore the underlying problems alongside inconsistent economic and financial trends as a guide for researchers, advanced students and professionals to think about the interconnectedness of the factors involved. Readers will gain insights drawn from recent developments in economic theory and empirical research—a toolkit to help them in their future careers in economics and finance—illustrated with an analysis of the 2008 crisis and its aftermath.

This book charts the consequences for banking supervision of two stylized developments that over the last decade have characterized the global financial landscape: the integration of cross-sector and cross-border financial services. Both developments inevitably call for a supervisory response and the authors discuss what form and direction this should take. They also address a number of other important subjects including the new Capital Accord (Basel 2), the convergence of supervisory practices, procyclicality, financial conglomerates, deposit insurance and a brief history of the interplay between banking supervision and bank behaviour. The important practical and theoretical issues highlighted in this volume clearly demonstrate that banking supervision currently stands at a crossroads. The detailed, objective discussions of these themes and the sensible conclusions drawn will undoubtedly help policymakers to decide which path to take. The original contributions from high-level practitioners and academics from around the world will also be of great interest to commercial bankers, and academics and researchers of banking, finance and monetary economics.

This book brings outstanding expertise and provides insightful perspectives from nineteen authors with diverse backgrounds, including officials from international organizations, national regulators, and commercial banking, as well as academics in law, economics, political economy, and finance. The authors not only shed light on the causes of the financial turmoil, but also present thoughtful proposals that contribute to the future policy debate, and discuss opportunities that financial services can offer in funding activities which raise standards of living through initiatives in microfinance, renewable energy, and food distribution. The contributions to this volume tackle several of the thorniest issues of financial regulation in a post-crisis environment, such as: the mechanics of contagion within the financial system and the role of liquidity; moral hazard when large financial institutions are no longer subject to the disciplinary effects of bankruptcy; bank capital requirements; management compensation; design of bank resolution schemes; a function-centric versus institution-centric regulatory approach; subsidization and compatibility of stimulus packages with EU rules on state aid; trade finance and the role of the GATS prudential carve-out; and the role of financial services in promoting human rights or combating climate change.

This paper analyses the process of disintermediation, the progress in consolidation, the impact of new technologies, and the role of ownership and control structures for the euro area banking sector. The impact of these trends on competition policy, "too big to fail" concerns, and financial stability is investigated. In this setting, the paper endorses stronger cross-border coordination among supervisory authorities but notes that more formal cross-border arrangements through supranational agencies seem, at this stage, premature. However, an increased capacity to perform centralized market surveillance, building on domestic supervisory information, is needed to ensure the efficiency and stability of euro-area financial markets.