However, such transitory movements should have no material effect on financial conditions or the broader economy. What matters for policy transmission is the predictability that on most days money market rates will be close to the target range set by the FOMC. 13 Of course, if rates were to move substantially outside the target range and those changes were expected to persist, the Fed would take appropriate action to assure that its intended stance of policy is achieved. In addition, as highlighted in minutes to the Committee’s recent policy meetings, an operating regime with a reasonably large positive spread between the IOER and ON RRP rates would support active trading in the funds market like we see today, and would likely prevent the Fed’s involvement in the repo market from growing too large. This would, in turn, lessen the possibility that patterns of financial intermediation could be altered in unanticipated and potentially undesirable ways by the Fed’s actions. Recent changes to the overnight RRP test exercise Now I’d like to return to the ON RRP testing that the Fed has been conducting over the past year, and discuss the changes to the testing exercise that were introduced following the September FOMC meeting. You’ll recall that we began testing ON RRPs in September 2013, when the Committee instructed the Desk to examine how a potential ON RRP facility might work and how it might affect short-term interest rates.
Consideration is thus given to the sustained implications of monetary stability measures on the real economy. The law therefore requires the Bank to take a balanced view to avoid the adoption of rigid frameworks that may result in strong biases that would lead to a fundamental and sustained damage to the economy. This balance is also extended to the explicit role of the Bank in developing an inclusive financial system in its responsibility to develop a sound and progressive financial system. These considerations are particularly important for emerging market economies so as to ensure balanced economic progress and development. The new Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009 also institutionalises the autonomy for the formulation of monetary policy, thus providing for the integrity and credibility of the decisions made. It also provides for greater flexibility in monetary policy implementation, allowing for a diversified range of instruments that can now be deployed for the implementation of monetary policy. As financial markets trend towards greater sophistication and demonstrate periods of extreme volatility, central banks must have commensurate capabilities to conduct monetary policy operations in order to maintain price stability. Equally important is the mandate to provide oversight over the money and foreign exchange market to ensure the orderly development and functioning of the markets. These necessary powers are however, combined with a system of checks and balances to enable the Bank to act decisively, but yet having in place safeguards so as to enhance transparency and accountability.