Bank of England raises alarm on unemployment as interest rates unchanged Economics The Bank of England has held interest rates but policymakers warned that the spiralling unemployment rate and weak growth was weighing down on price growth. In its decision on Thursday, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted 5-4 to leave interest rates at 3.75 per cent. But economists warned that unemployment could jump higher over the [...]
Bank of England Live: Interest rates held in narrow 5-4 call Markets Good morning and welcome to the City AM liveblog. The Bank of England’s monetary committee has decided to hold rates in its first meet of the year. Markets – and City AM‘s own Shadow MPC – had placed their bets on a hold as the Bank continues its gradual chop to the base rate. In [...]
Bank of England to avoid signalling faster interest rate cuts Economics The Bank of England will not signal a faster pace of interest rate cuts over the coming months to combat jobs market woes across the UK economy, with some economists fearing it could send markets mixed messages on monetary policy. Markets expect interest rates to be held at 3.75 per cent on Thursday due to [...]
Exclusive: Starling’s top investor withdraws support for London IPO February 4, 2026 Starling’s elusive billionaire backer has gone cold on his ambition for the digital bank to list in London, City AM can reveal, in a move that will heighten fears of the fintech heading to New York for its highly-anticipated IPO. Harald McPike had lobbied for the group to launch its initial public offering in London [...]
Bank of England should hold interest rates, City AM Shadow MPC says February 3, 2026 The Bank of England should hold interest rates to get inflation back down to two per cent, City AM’s Shadow Monetary Policy Committee has said, as policymakers find insufficient evidence to lower borrowing costs. The nine economists, who responded independently from their respective organisations, said recent data on price growth should be treated cautiously by [...]
Bank of England names first fintech cohort for scale-up regulator February 3, 2026 The Bank of England has named the first handful of UK fintech talent which will be overseen by the new regulatory ‘Scale-Up’ unit. Small business lenders OakNorth and Allica Bank – which was named the fastest-growing fintech ever by Deloitte – were listed as two of the firms that had been accepted into the first [...]
Bank of England’s Breeden warns on rivals overtaking UK on innovation February 2, 2026 The Bank of England’s lead for fintech policy and digital currency has laid out a sweeping vision for the UK’s next generation of payments infrastructure amid a rallying cry for the UK to not lag behind its peers. Sarah Breeden, a rate-setter at the central bank and the deputy governor for financial stability, said the [...]
UK payments stuck with ‘bolted on’ European regulation, says PSR boss February 2, 2026 The boss of the UK’s payments regulator has said the body’s consolidation with the City watchdog will allow it to ditch overhanging red tape from Europe. David Geale, who heads up the Payments System Regulator (PSR) and leads on payments at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said: “There are bits of payments regulation that have [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Miners lead stock fall as gold rout deepens February 2, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. There’s one big event the City is looking towards this week but all signs point to zero surprises. On Thursday, the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee will meet for the first time this year and decide whether to take the chop to interest rates. [...]
Bank of England set to hold interest rates January 31, 2026 The Bank of England is expected to hold interest rates at 3.75 per cent next week as policymakers continue to battle against sticky inflation. At the monetary policy committee (MPC)’s first meeting of the year, the Bank is expected to suggest it is too early to cut rates due to the lack of available data [...]