VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Most central banks have been easing policy since the start of the year and are set to do more, but it still isn't clear whether that new activism, which has pushed stock markets to record highs, will help the global economy much.

Technology companies pose a competitive threat to established lenders, the head of Royal Bank of Canada said on Friday, adding he was keen to work with start-ups to improve the company's mobile offerings.

China has told its banks to issue more loans in the final months of 2014 and has relaxed limits on their loan-to-deposit ratios to help hit a record new lending target as the government steps up efforts to lift flagging economic growth.

The Federal Reserve's vow to keep interest rates near zero for a "considerable time" is likely to remain in place for now, with the U.S. central bank set to take a slow and steady approach to its first rate rise in a decade.The pledge will be up for debate again when policymakers meet next week, with a strong jobs report bolstering the case of officials who want to remove it.

The Federal Reserve is welcoming the sharp drop in global energy prices, with two influential policymakers on Monday cheering the boost it should provide American pocketbooks and shrugging off any pressure on already low inflation.

With Russia's economy battered by economic sanctions and plunging oil prices, President Vladimir Putin has allowed the central bank to administer strong medicine, sharply raising interest rates even as it freed the rouble to float.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi threw the door wide open on Friday for more drastic measures to prevent the euro zone from sliding into deflation, promising to use whatever means necessary as China also acted to boost its sagging economic growth.

Russia's central bank has been forced to step up its gold buying this year to absorb domestic production that Western sanctions are making it hard for miners to sell abroad, and to boost liquidity in its foreign reserves, sources said.

The Fed should fight low inflation as vigorously as it would a too rapid run-up in prices or risk the same sort of prolonged slow growth plaguing Japan and Europe, Boston Federal Reserve bank president Eric Rosengren said on Monday.

The lone Federal Reserve policymaker to dissent against the U.S. central bank's decision this week to end its bond-buying stimulus said Friday that the Fed was risking its credibility by failing to take action against a worrisome drop in inflation.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday ended its monthly bond purchase program and dropped a characterization of U.S. labor market slack as "significant" in a show of confidence in the economy's prospects.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday could offer fresh clues on when it plans to begin lifting interest rates and how quickly it will move, as it prepares for a momentous policy turn after years of aggressive monetary stimulus.

Federal Reserve officials felt they could decide to start scaling back the U.S. central bank's massive asset purchase program at one of its next few meetings, provided this was warranted by economic growth, minutes of the Fed's October policy meeting showed.

The People's Bank of China had undertaken a program of lowering money supply to avoid further inflation, but this may lead to lack of financial support

Marek Belka, Poland's Central Bank Governor, had urged local banks to find opportunities through purchase of local rivals that are owned by foreign banks.