China’s government has turned around its economy far faster than most thought possible,  to 7.9% in the second quarter.Even if the surge moderates in coming quarters, many analysts say China will very nearly meet its target of an 8% expansion for all of 2009. In the first quarter, gross domestic product grew 6.1% from a [...]

Nigeria’s fraud police say they have recovered $170m (£105m) from wealthy debtors who owe money to five banks. It is only one-thirtieth of the billions they want to track down. Earlier this month, Nigeria’s central bank was forced to bail out financial institutions that were close to collapse because of bad debts. Link

California borrowed $1.5 billion from JPMorgan Chase & Co. at an annual interest rate of 3 percent, raising cash the most-populous U.S. state will use to help repay IOUs it used for routine bills, the Treasurer’s office said today. The New York-based bank purchased securities that will be repaid after California next month sells as [...]

The Federal Reserve asked a judge yesterday to delay enforcement of her decision requiring the central bank to identify companies in its emergency lending programs. Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan said on Aug. 24 that the Fed had until Aug. 31 to disclose daily reports on borrowing by banks and other financial [...]

Ben S. Bernanke’s renomination allows him to redefine the Federal Reserve’s mission as he expands its power over financial markets and pulls back on a credit surge the central bank used to keep the economy from collapse, economists say. Link

Central bankers warned that a global economic recovery shouldn’t delay an overhaul of financial- market regulations following the worst banking crisis since World War II.  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke used a weekend Fed symposium to single out the creation of rules limiting risk as one of the “difficult challenges” ahead. European Central Bank [...]

It may be a little early to put on the party hats and pop the champagne corks but the global economy appears to be coming out of the worst recession since World War II. The world’s central bankers expressed growing confidence here that the worst of the financial crisis is over and that a worldwide [...]

Islamic Banking

“Islamic banking” was tested on a global basis in unprecedented ways during this recession. How did it perform relative to other financial institutions, and according to whose criteria?

By its definition, strict prohibition on “usury” and interest driven lending, Islamic banking did not employ traditional leverage and thus fared substantively better in a recession [...]

The U.K. Financial Services Authority and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said they plan to work more closely in their supervision of energy-futures markets to curb manipulation and speculation. “We must effectively utilize all existing powers to ensure that futures markets remain free of manipulation, fraud or other market abuses,” said Gary Gensler, chairman of [...]