New Powers Proposed for Czech Central Bank:...

New Powers Proposed for Czech Central Bank: Hoping to quell concerns after three bank failures, the government proposed sweeping new regulatory powers for the nation’s central bank. If approved by Parliament, the regulations would allow the central bank to decrease the book value of troubled banks and replace corrupt or incompetent bank managers, and would make it easier for the central bank to cooperate with foreign regulators. Central bank officials have been pushing for the changes after the nation’s seventh-largest bank, Banka Bohemia, fell into trouble earlier this year by issuing $1.2 billion in worthless notes abroad. Two other commercial banks have collapsed because of bad management, officials say.