Banks, Central Bank | featured news

Major central banks around the globe took coordinated action Wednesday to ease the strains on the world's financial system, saying they would make it easier for banks to get dollars if they need them. Stock markets and the euro rose sharply on the move.

A top bank lobbyist insisted Saturday that banks and the eurozone are far from reaching a deal to cut Greece's debt, despite claims by eurozone finance ministers that they will ask banks to take steeper losses on their Greek bonds.

A decision by European central banks to support the region's financial system helped calm Asian markets, setting off a rally across the region in Friday trading....

A top board member of the European Central Bank unexpectedly resigned on Friday in what analysts saw as further evidence of the deep divisions over how to resolve Europe’s growing debt crisis. The move immediately rattled European markets and the euro, which slipped to a six-month low against the dollar. The European Stoxx and German DAX indexes tumbled 3.5 percent.

South Korea's move to buy gold for the first time in 13 years is the latest in a growing trend of central banks diversifying their reserves and reducing dependence on the U.S. dollar.

The Afghan government Tuesday lashed out at its former central bank president, who fled to Virginia and announced there Monday that he had resigned in fear for his life. Officials here blamed him for involvement in a major bank scandal and said he had no reason to fear anything but the law.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde appeared poised to become the head of the International Monetary Fund this week despite a strong challenge to Europe's traditional hold on the job.

The United States probably wouldn't be able to maintain its prized AAA sovereign ratings status if it suffered even a "technical" default on its debt, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday.

A senior banking regulator urged Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling to prevent a "calamitous" government debt default.

The European Central Bank is poised to raise interest rates from a record low 1.0 percent on Thursday and more is likely to follow but, fearful of heaping more pain on the euro zone's stragglers, it will give few clues about when the next move will come.