Newcastle United targeting financial stability

NEWCASTLE UNITED are on the road to financial stability after the club filed its latest accounts.

The club today published its annual results which highlight the impact of relegation to the Championship in 2009.

UK holding back progress on global financial stability

A new report published today argues that the UK is subverting progress towards a safer financial system, and has become a major barrier to international efforts for reform.

The report, Subverting Safer Finance by think-tank nef (the new economics foundation), reveals that compared with other major financial centres, including even the US, the UK is part of the problem in key areas of financial reform, rather than leading the search for solutions.

“Financial stability holds the key to economic growth”

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday that a sound and resilient banking sector, well-functioning financial markets, robust liquidity management, and payment and settlement infrastructure had become pre-requisites for financial stability.

Dodd-Frank's Threat to Financial Stability

With the comment period now closed on its proposed rule, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) is getting ready to outline the terms for deciding which nonbank financial institutions might cause instability in the U.S. financial system if they fail. As its staff works away on decision criteria, they should be offered one word of advice: stop.

The council was set up by the Dodd-Frank Act and is made up of virtually all the federal government's financial regulators. It is authorized to use such criteria as size, interconnectedness and "mix of activities" to decide whether, in effect, a nonbank financial institution is too big to fail.

Positive outlook for financial stability

THE outlook for domestic financial stability this year remains positive, supported by underlying strengths of the Malaysian financial system.

“Financial institutions have accumulated strong buffers totalling RM81.4bil to withstand external risks and domestic challenges, even under extreme scenarios of credit and market stress,” Bank Negara said.

Safeguarding the future stability of the Euro-ECB

On March 21st, in Salzburg Germany, the Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, spoke at the Investment form about the Euro and its future. Ms. Tumpel-Gugerell started out the speech saying “it was the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter who stated that “a nation’s monetary system is a reflection of everything that the nation wants, suffers and is. … Nothing says what a nation is made of so clearly as what it does in terms of its monetary policy.” During the speech, she discussed the current economic situation; how the single currency has contributed towards the management of the financial market crisis; the overview of the financial market reforms in the European Union and an outline of what is still to be done to guarantee the stability of the euro over the long-term horizon.

Cobb Receives Highest Rating for Financial Stability

Fitch Ratings, an international rating agency, recently reaffirmed Cobb County's excellent financial management efforts by giving the county's general obligation bonds its highest rating of AAA.

Since 2008, Fitch Solutions has distributed Fitch Ratings' credit ratings, research and data through a variety of platforms. Fitch is dual-headquartered in New York and London with offices worldwide.

International Reviewers Few Non-Bank Structured Credit Disclosures

Countries still seem to differ in terms of whether they apply the same structured credit risk exposure rules to banks and to other types of financial institutions, according to officials at the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

The Group of 20 (G20) developed countries set up the FSB, Basel, Switzerland, to help develop strategies for increasing the stability of the world financial system.

Commission raises further €3.4bn for bailout

THE EU Commission has raised a further €3.4 billion for Ireland’s bailout but at a rising interest rate, bringing the total raised so far this year by European bodies to some €13.4 billion.

The commission said its bailout fund – the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) – raised the money at an issuance spread fixed at mid-swap plus 8 basis points. This was “at the tight end of the initial price guidance”, it said.

FSA identifies major economic risks to financial stability

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published its Prudential Risk Outlook (PRO), which aims to identify major risks to financial stability in the UK.

It identifies a number of risks that could impact firms in the UK, which it will then use to focus its policy in the FSA's business plan due to be published later this month.

Price of financial stability is eternal vigilance, warns Lord Turner

Lord Turner suggests banks dubbed too big to fail should be required to hold more capital than new thresholds agreed by the Basel committee on banking supervision.

Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, warned tonight (16th March) that the financial system faces new risks despite the global regulatory overhaul in the wake of the banking crisis.

Euro zone to raise EFSF guarantees, effective by summer

BRUSSELS - The euro zone is likely to agree on details of bolstering its bailout fund next week, and the reformed European Financial Stability Facility should be operational by the summer, euro zone officials said on Tuesday.

Euro zone leaders agreed on Saturday that the capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility should be raised to its full 440 billion euros from the current 250 billion, but left it up to finance ministers to work out how.

Problems not yet solved

THE Financial Times reports today that euro-zone leaders have reached a deal on a series of measures designed to solve the currency area's ongoing debt crisis. At first glance, the numbers look impressive. Euro-zone members will bulk up funding levels for the European Financial Stability Fund and its post-2013 successor, the European Stability Mechanism. The plan would also give the EFSF the ability to buy some government debt. Sovereign bond yields around the periphery are down this morning, presumably as a reaction to the agreement.

Japan looks for market stability after quake

Japan's central bank will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss how to maintain financial stability in the markets following the devastating earthquake and the nuclear alert.

The authorities said yesterday they want to ensure there is enough liquidity in the financial system so that companies and investors can start rebuilding. They will also put emergency plans in place for the public to have access to cash as so many banks and cash machines have been wiped out by the quake.

Japanese PM calls in forces, bank calms financial fears

Prime Minister Naoto Kan mobilised Japan's Self-Defence Forces and the central bank pledged to ensure financial stability yesterday after a magnitude-8.9 earthquake struck off the coast of Sendai, a city of one million people, causing damage across the east coast of Japan.

European bailout fund needs expanded tools-Mersch

LUXEMBOURG, March 10 (Reuters) - Europe's bailout fund needs more instruments at its disposal than it now has, European Central Bank policymaker Yves Mersch said on Thursday.

High oil prices threaten GDP and financial stability

Brent crude oil prices are 0.8% lower on the day with a barrel going for $114.92.

WTI crude oil prices are 0.71% lower at $103 a barrel.

This morning The Economy News reported that high oil prices could lead to a global recession.

Opposition Socialists Snub Bulgarian FinMin's Financial Stability Pact

The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has formally refused to support the Constitution amendments proposed by Finance Minister Simeon Djankov to guarantee fiscal soundness with a "Financial Stability Pact."

Djankov held talks with BSP Chair and ex PM Sergey Stanishev for more than an hour on Wednesday trying to convince the Socialists to back his project.

Europe's Conservative Leaders Call for Conditions on Bailouts

Europe's conservative leaders, meeting here Friday to plot a response to the Continent's persistent sovereign debt crisis, said they were committed to pushing tough economic reforms as the price of aid to weak states.

They also made clear that private investors who lend to euro-zone countries would, in the future, face losses if those countries got in trouble. So far in Europe's bailouts, taxpayers have paid the entire cost.

"We have to make sure there is really a concrete risk to lose money," said Jyrki Katainen, Finland's deputy prime minister and the gathering's host.

Meet on financial stability

The sub-committee of the Financial Stability Development Council today discussed information sharing arrangements among financial regulators at its first meeting here.

“The sub-committee reviewed the developments in the macro-economy and the financial markets,” an official statement said.

Non-bank Firms May Face New Push To Disclose Risk Data

The new U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council might seek an unprecedented volume of data from hedge funds, broker-dealers and mortgage companies about their risk exposure, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing a confidential study by the panel.

In the document, dated Feb. 3, the council identifies dozens of "potential metrics" to be used in determining which non-bank financial firms should be deemed "systemically important" and subject to oversight by the Federal Reserve.

Financial stability within reach

Many people feel as though their personal finances are out of control, with no hope of ever recovering from the financial mayhem in which they find themselves. With jobs lost, mortgages underwater and retirement accounts still on life-support, this feeling of hopelessness is understandable.

For those who think that financial stability is out of reach, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling reminds consumers that even if their current situation seems hopeless, there are steps they can take now that will put them in a better financial position, a spokesperson said.