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☆ G20 watchdog says commodity market concentration poses threat to wider economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The FSB, which coordinates financial rules for G20 economies, said that forced governments to offer liquidity to some cash-strapped market participants. But fallout from the surge in nickel prices echoed concerns over large, concentrated positions and opacity in commodities more generally. The commodities market adapted to stress by switching to opaque over-the-counter (OTC) or off-exchange contracts where margin requirements are less strict, making ties between commodities and banks more complex, the report said. FSB Commodities Graphic 1The FSB said vulnerabilities in commodities are similar to those in non-bank financial intermediaries as economies went into COVID-19 lockdowns, and are now being addressed. FSB Commodities Graphic 2Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Key ECB policymaker comments since Feb rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

By smoothing our policy rate hikes – that is, moving in small steps – we can ensure that we calibrate (policy) more precisely. Boris Vujcic, Croatian central bank governor, Feb. 10"I would agree that we are likely to see more rate action beyond March." Joachim Nagel, German central bank chief, Feb. 7"From where I stand today we need further, significant rate hikes." Pierre Wunsch, Belgian central bank chief, Feb. 3"I don’t think we're going to move from 50 basis points (in March) to zero. Gediminas Simkus, Lithuanian central bank chief, Feb. 3"The March rate hike is not the last one.

☆ Analysis: ECB faces new communication challenge as inflation falls
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Balazs Koranyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But core inflation is proving stubborn and could still rise from last month's 5.2%. "We have to continue to emphasize that we have this medium term perspective," Klaas Knot, the Dutch central bank chief said. It has oscillated between focusing on current inflation, future inflation and core inflation. Wages are the biggest factor in that sector's prices and services inflation is still just above 4%. So wage growth of the magnitude of 5% or more could push services inflation even higher.

☆ ECB must keep raising rate despite public sacrifice, Vujcic says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Balazs Koranyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Euro zone core inflation could drop below headline price gorwth in 2023Still, that is not a signal that the ECB's job is done, the Croatian argued. "There is a possibility that headline inflation will fall to 2% much sooner than expected due to various factors ... (that) bring the headline figure down sharply, below core inflation," Vujcic said. Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot has also warned that headline inflation could fall below underlying prices. Economists call sacrifice ratio the loss suffered in order to achieve a reduction in the long-run inflation rate. "We would have to explain to public why we are keeping restrictive monetary policy stance if headline inflation already fell," Vujcic said.

☆ ECB's Knot sees big May rate hike if core inflation doesn't fall: MNI
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank may extend its streak of large interest hikes into May if core inflation doesn't ease by then, ECB policymaker Klaas Knot said on Wednesday. "Once we see a clear and decisive turn in underlying inflation dynamics, I...expect us to move to smaller steps." He expected inflation in core goods to start falling too, also thanks to easing supply constraints. But he warned that inflation in core services may prove sticker and may get a further boost from rising wages. He expected workers to gain more bargaining power in salary negotiations as the economy holds up better than the ECB expected only a few weeks ago.

☆ Dutch central bank fines cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase 3.3 mln euros
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The Dutch central bank (DNB) has fined U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN.O) 3.3 million euros ($3.6 million) for failing to obtain the correct registration in the Netherlands before offering services. Cryptocurrency companies operating in the Netherlands have been obliged to register as money transmitters under the country's anti-money laundering rules since May 2020. The DNB said Coinbase was out of compliance between November 2020 and "at least" August 2022, before it successfully registered on Sept. 22, 2022. During that period "a large number of unusual transactions may have gone unnoticed by the investigative authorities", it said. The DNB said it had taken into consideration that Coinbase was one of the largest cryptocurrency companies and had a "significant number of customers in the Netherlands".

☆ Coinbase was hit with a $3.6 million fine by the Dutch central bank for failure to properly register in the country
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Dutch central bank hit Coinbase with a $3.6 million fine for non-compliance. A Coinbase spokesperson told Insider that the company is "carefully considering" the objections and appeal process. The central bank fined Coinbase rival Binance $3.3 million in July. Coinbase refutes the bank's claims, adding that the company is "carefully considering the objections and appeals process" for the fine. DNB also hit Coinbase competitor and world's largest crypto exchange Binance with a $3.35 million fine in July.

☆ Morning bid: Tech tonic, recession rethink
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Pumped-up hopes for U.S. tech sector earnings in a heavy week for corporate updates generally have twinned with the latest sign Europe may have dodged a winter recession. With Microsoft in view, attention will be on the extent for cost cutting and job shedding in the tech and digital space. Music-streamer Spotify (SPOT.N) rose 2% on Monday as it joined a growing list of tech firms to announce staff cuts, shedding 6% of its workforce. Reports of Ford's F.N plan to cut 3,200 workers in Europe shows job attrition may not be confined to tech sector. Whether that's just too rosy and markets have yet to price a full-blown earnings recession is this year's big question.

☆ Davos 2023: Global bank chiefs get FBI cybersecurity update
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationDAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Global bank and exchange chiefs got insight on cybersecurity and resilience from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's director during a private session in Davos this week. The financial services executives also compared notes on economic risks, financial stability and sustainability. Klaas Knot, President of the Dutch central bank who chairs the Financial Stability Board, also spoke with the group. He discussed vulnerabilities in the financial system, including risks posed by so-called shadow banks, the sources said. For daily Davos updates in your inbox sign up for the Reuters Daily Briefing here.

☆ Watch CNBC's full interview with Klaas Knot, president of the Dutch central bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWatch CNBC's full interview with Klaas Knot, president of the Dutch central bankKlaas Knot, president of De Nederlandsche Bank, discusses the outlook for the European Union's monetary policy.

☆ Investors underpricing ECB rate hikes, Knot says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"It will not stop after a single 50 basis point hike, that’s for sure," Knot told CNBC, adding that investors should take more seriously its policy guidance. "Most of the ground that we have to cover, we will cover at a constant pace of multiple 50 basis points hikes." "The sort of market developments that I've seen over the last two weeks or so, are not entirely welcome," Knot said after investors priced out some rate hikes. While a 50 basis point hike for February is fully priced in, markets are oscillating between 25 and 50 for March. Part of the change is related to more benign rate hike expectations from the U.S. Federal Reserve and an anticipation that the ECB would follow its U.S. counterpart if its slowed or stopped with rate hikes.

☆ European Central Bank member says will not stop at one single 50 basis point hike, 'that's for sure'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

DAVOS, Switzerland — The European Central Bank will not stop with one single 50 basis point hike at its next rate-setting meetings, one board member told CNBC Thursday. "It will not stop after a single 50 basis point hike, that's for sure," Klaas Knot, who serves as the governor of the Dutch central bank, said about the ECB's upcoming moves. The European Central Bank raised rates four times throughout 2022, bringing its deposit rate to 2%. The central bank in December said it would be increasing rates further in 2023 to address sky-high inflation. Recent data has shown a slowdown in headline inflation, even if it remains well above the ECB's 2% target.

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) was down 0.8% at 0929 GMT, and on track to snap a six-day winning streak. Energy stocks (.SXEP) fell 1.9%, tracking weakness in crude prices, after U.S. economic data stoked fears of recession in the world's largest economy. "Economic data remains noisy, making it hard to say for certain that the recent encouraging economic trends will continue," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management. Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot added to the chorus, saying markets may be underestimating planned rate hikes by the European Central Bank and investors should take more seriously its forecast to raise rates in multiples of 50 basis points. Investors are focussed on minutes from last month's European Central Bank meeting due later in the day, as well as an appearance from ECB President Christine Lagarde at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

☆ Dutch governor Knot signals ECB will keep raising rates in months ahead- FT
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Dec 26 (Reuters) - Head of Dutch Central Bank Klaas Knot said with five policy meetings between now and July 2023, the ECB would achieve "quite a decent pace of tightening" through half percentage point rises before borrowing costs eventually peaked by the summer, the Financial Times reported on Monday. "The risk of us doing too little is still the bigger risk," Knot told the newspaper in an interview. "We are just at the beginning of the second half." Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Crypto exchange Bitvavo says it aims to recoup 280 million euros from DCG
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AMSTERDAM, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Dutch cryptocurrency exchange Bitvavo said on Saturday it is trying to recover 280 million euros ($296.30 million) from U.S.-based Digital Currency Group (DCG) and its subsidiaries. FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, leaving an estimated 1 million customers and other investors facing total losses in the billions of dollars. The collapse reverberated across the crypto world and sent bitcoin and other digital assets plummeting. A public relations agent for DCG on Saturday said the accounts in question were held at Genesis, not DCG itself. "We are in discussions with multiple entities of the group and given the mingling within the group we hold DCG responsible for the outstanding amount," a Bitvavo spokesperson said.

☆ Crypto exchange Bitvavo says 280 million euros 'locked' at DCG
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Bitvavo, a Dutch cryptocurrency exchange, said on Friday it has 280 million euros ($296.30 million) locked at Digital Currency Group (DCG), a U.S.-based company. "DCG is currently experiencing liquidity problems ... As a result, DCG has suspended repayments until this liquidity issue has been resolved," the Dutch firm said on its blog. DCG operates several subsidiaries, including major cryptocurrency lender Genesis Global Capital, which froze withdrawals in November following the collapse of FTX. Bitvavo said it expects to be reimbursed over time and that it has enough funds to "prefund any locked assets at DCG". It said it had given the money to DCG to offer Bitvavo customers a product where they could earn interest on their cryptocurrency token deposits.

☆ Dutch central bank warns that KuCoin operating without registration
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Dutch central bank on Thursday issued a statement saying cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin is operating in the Netherlands without being registered to do so. KuCoin is a subsidiary of a Seychelles-registered company called MEK Global Limited (MGL), the bank said in a statement. MGL "is acting in violation of the law on preventing money laundering and financing terrorism and offering illegal services," De Nederlandsche Bank said. Customers of the exchange are not breaking the law, the DNB said, "but they may have a heightened risk of becoming involved in money laundering and terrorism financing." In August 2021, the DNB issued a similar warning that Binance Holdings Ltd. was operating in the Netherlands without a license.

EARLY WARNING SIGNSAfter years of tame inflation, Fed officials and other central bankers say they have faced a chain of disruptive events beyond their control ranging from the COVID-19 pandemic to the Ukraine war. The central bank has made conservative estimates on inflation despite Russia cutting gas supplies to Europe in response to Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. Even as some economists say an inflation peak could now be in sight, central bankers remain far from taming inflation. The concern among some central bankers is that politicians will respond by raising public spending and so aggravate the inflation pressure that their rate-hike cure is intended to heal. If that were to happen, central bankers “would have to reverse course to prevent the debt market from becoming more disorderly," Goodhart told Reuters.

But neither incoming hard economic numbers nor many senior policymakers have fully bought into the recession idea just yet. But not all think a soft landing is out of the question. JP Morgan's Bruce Kasman said his "baseline" is the lagged effect of Fed tightening does eventually drag the U.S. economy into recession late next year. But he also said it was a "mistake to rule out a soft landing scenario." by Mike Dolan, Twitter: @reutersMikeD; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoLONDON, Nov 29 - A look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan. They also cheered a relaxation of regulations on developer fundraising that eases the smouldering property sector bust. A crackdown on demonstrations happened simultaneously, with Chinese authorities making inquiries into some protesters as police flooded the city's streets. Strikingly, hawkish Dutch central banker Klaus Knot also said forecasts of recession may be overdone and fears of "overtightening" policy were a "joke". His boss European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said euro zone inflation, which is expected to ease this month but remain above 10%, has not yet peaked, encouraging speculation of another swingeing 75 basis point interest rate rise next month.

☆ German inflation in key states eases in November
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Nov 29 (Reuters) - German inflation dipped in five states in November, data showed on Tuesday, suggesting cost pressures eased in Europe's largest economy - a welcome development for the European Central Bank but unlikely to weaken its resolve to tame prices. In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, annual inflation slowed this month to 10.4% from 11.0% in October. Inflation also eased slightly in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg and Hesse. Her comments, along with remarks by Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot earlier, were likely to dampen speculation that the European Central Bank was about to take a gentler path with future rate increases. A Reuters poll of economists pointed to national inflation, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, easing to 11.3% in November from 11.6% in October.

☆ ECB at risk of not doing enough to fight inflation, Knot says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"My worry is still inflation, inflation, inflation," Knot, an outspoken policy hawk told a conference. "As long as the risks to our inflation outlook are so clearly tilted to the upside, I think the risk of us doing too little is clearly more pronounced than us doing too much," he added. For now, the ECB is still providing accommodation, Knot argued, and the next step will be to get into a territory that restricts growth. "We will get weaker growth, that's for sure. But we also need weaker growth to bring inflation back to target."

☆ G20 watchdog says bank climate stress tests may understate exposures
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Tom JacobsLONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Climate-related stress tests for banks need to better capture the indirect fallout of climate change on lenders and the wider global economy, the G20's Financial Stability Board said on Tuesday. The European Central Bank, Bank of England and other central banks have completed an initial batch of experimental stress tests to assess how banks will cope with the impact of climate change on their business. Echoing what industry officials have already said, the report said that many of the tests do not capture 'second round' effects, or impact on banks of climate change hitting the wider economy. Earlier this month the European Central Bank said euro zone lenders were still failing to meet its climate disclosure and management expectations. The Bank of England said in July that future climate-related stress tests could focus on specific activities at banks, such as trading, which was missing from its first test.

☆ ECB's Enria calls time on era of big bank buybacks
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FRANKFURT, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's top supervisor Andrea Enria appeared to call time on a season of large share buybacks by banks on Thursday as the economy weakens. Banks including UniCredit (CRDI.MI) and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) have been reporting bumper profits and announcing dividends and share buybacks, boosted by a sharp increase in interest rates and a trading boom after more than a decade of mostly meagre returns. "Banks have been able to distribute big, until recently we had quite a number of hefty share buybacks," Andrea Enria told an event at the Dutch central bank. Reuters reported on Wednesday supervisors were urging banks to preserve capital in the face of a souring economic outlook after finding they were making overly optimistic assumptions about the economic outlook. This year, the ECB has given the green light to all buybacks that were put up for approval, including from UniCredit, Societe Generale and ING (INGA.AS).

☆ Euro zone inflation soars past forecasts to new record high
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FRANKFURT, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Euro zone inflation surged past expectations yet again this month to hit a record high, pointing to further interest rate hikes from the European Central Bank as price pressures appear to be broadening. Energy prices continued to drive inflation but food and imported industrial goods all pushed prices sharply higher even as services played only a marginal role this time. But markets have started to anticipate a slowdown in rate hikes as a recession looms and gas prices have come down from record highs. Reuters GraphicsBut policymakers are likely to be concerned that underlying price growth, which filters out volatile food and fuel prices, continued to accelerate, pointing to broadening price pressures, which raises the risk that high inflation will get entrenched. But the weak euro is adding to price pressures while wage growth is also inching up, a key worry as a wage-price spiral would make inflation even more difficult to break.

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