The Global Financial Crisis: The Challenge for Central Banks

Abstract

The previous chapter established that central banks have important roles to play in maintaining financial stability, and statutes have stipulated facilities which enable them to fulfil their purposes and their functions of ensuring monetary stability and managing systemic risk. Their regulation is therefore closely linked with the actuality and/or threat of financial crisis: central banks combine monetary policy instruments and crisis management solutions to deal with market instability. The GFC highlighted major issues relevant to central bank regulation among others. Central banks were blamed for both causing and not ably responding to the financial crisis, particularly with respect to their financial stability agenda and objectives. Since 2007, they have carried out massive global monetary expansion, which will now be reviewed; meanwhile, they have been targeted for fundamental reforms, moving towards financial stability. As a result of, and compiling data about, my central research questions, this chapter will explore whether, and if so how, central banks have managed to change in order to work towards and achieve financial stability.