ITALY
Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco, who overcame a bruising public debate in 2017 to win a second term, saw his number two Salvatore Rossi leave his job after the ruling populist coalition demanded change at the top of the institution.

SLOVENIA
Bostjan Jazbec resigned as Slovenian central bank governor last year after coming under pressure for his role in a 2013 bank bailout. The European Commission has sued the country for seizing ECB documents in a raid on his office and a local court moved to inspect central-bank books in relation to the probe. Jazbec’s successor, Bostjan Vasle, has slammed a draft law that could leave the central bank liable for investor losses from the bailout, saying it would break the rules on monetary financing.

LATVIA
Latvian Governor Ilmars Rimsevics is the target of a corruption investigation that saw him briefly detained. He’s back at work after the European Court of Justice overruled his suspension, in a case that pitted the ECB against Latvian law enforcement. Rimsevics says the accusations against him are orchestrated by well-connected banks angered by his anti-money-laundering efforts.

LITHUANIA
The Lithuanian central bank governor, Vitas Vasiliauskas, recently survived a parliamentary resolution that called on him to quit or be dismissed for allegedly failing to cooperate adequately with a parliamentary probe into the 2008 crisis. The resolution failed, despite being backed by the prime minister.

GREECE
Yannis Stournaras, the governor of the Bank of Greece, has been targeted several times for alleged wrongdoing including a case involving Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG -- which he says was concocted to force him out -- and accounts of inaccuracies in his property declarations. The latest scandal concerns a leaked phone conversation between the governor and Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis, who demanded the governor probe loans to opposition politicians, parties and media.

SWEDEN
The Riksbank, the world’s oldest central bank, has been criticized as its benchmark rate remains stuck far below zero and the krona has weakened. Parliament is reviewing the inflation targeting regime, and some politicians, including the finance minister, argue that policy makers should abandon their strict focus on price stability and look at the broader economy.

Any changes in the mandate will probably be muted, given there’s a large consensus that the almost three-decade-old regime overall has served Sweden well. The review was also told not to come back with recommendations for a so-called dual mandate, but there’s wiggle room within the current framework to put more emphasis on growth and the labor market.

SWITZERLAND
The Swiss National Bank is frequently in the cross-hairs, partly because its balance sheet has ballooned to 120% of economic output. Lawmakers regularly suggest its reserves be turned into a sovereign wealth fund and national plebiscites have (unsuccessfully) targeted its gold holdings, and even questioned the fundamentals of banking.

SOUTH AFRICA
Since an attempt by South Africa’s anti-graft ombudsman two years ago to have the Reserve Bank’s mandate altered, Governor Lesetja Kganyago rarely lets a speech or interview go by without making the case for central bank independence. He successfully fought off attempts to change the inflation-targeting remit, but the institution faces at least two more possible threats to its independence this year.

First, the ruling African National Congress may move forward on a plan to nationalize the Reserve Bank, one of only a handful of central banks in the world still owned by private shareholders. While the shareholders have no say in policy, Kganyago has warned that the move could mask another attack on independence.