Central bank

Sweden's government will start exploring the feasibility of having the country move to a digital currency, marking another step into the unknown for the world's most cashless society.

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) on Nov. 27 revised its regulations on reserve requirements to improve the effectiveness of the monetary transmission mechanism in the country.

In line with its main objective of price stability through monetary tightening, the bank decided to simplify its reserve requirement regulations, it underlined in a written statement.

The Turkish Central Bank's official reserve assets grew 6.1% month-on-month to reach $84.5 billion in October, according to data released on Nov. 27. 

Foreign currency reserves- in convertible foreign currencies- increased by 12.4% to hit $40.8 billion, according to the bank's international reserves and foreign currency liquidity report.

Turkey's Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged next week, according to an Anadolu Agency survey on Aug. 14. 

The eighth monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting of this year will be held on Thursday (Aug. 20) to announce the bank's decision on interest rates.

A majority of 22 economists surveyed by Anadolu Agency forecast no change in interest rates.

At a meeting in the Council of Ministers on June 12, the Government discussed a Draft Protocol Decision on actions taken by Bulgarian Development Bank AD (BDB) to acquire shares from the capital increase of First Investment Bank (FiBank).

The Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) decided, in Friday's meeting, to reduce the monetary policy interest rate to 1.75% per year, from 2% per year, starting with June 2, informs the central bank.

National Bank (NBG) and Alpha, two of Greece's largest lenders, increased provisions to cover anticipated loan impairments from the coronavirus crisis as they kicked off the first quarter earnings season for the sector on Thursday.

The official reserves of the Turkish Central Bank reached $86.3 billion as of the end of April, the bank announced on May 28. 

The April figure showed that total reserve assets slipped 6.3% from the previous month.

Foreign currency reserves in convertible foreign currencies fell 15.5% to $50.1 billion during the same period.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is drafting contingency plans to carry out its multi-trillion bond-buying program without the Bundesbank in case Germany's top court forces the main participant in the scheme to quit, four sources told Reuters.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras on Monday stressed the need to seek and activate instruments such as a bad bank, as the so-called Hercules Asset Protection Scheme (HAPS) is considered insufficient, while he also recommended taking recourse to the credit line of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).