BoE governor Mark Carney urges the City to step up on climate change February 27, 2020 Outgoing Bank of England governor Mark Carney has demanded the City answer “calls to action” on climate change and help speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy. In a speech given in the City this morning, Carney is expected to call on money managers to “ensure that every financial decision takes climate change into [...]
Bank of England chief cashier indicates backing for official digital currency February 23, 2020 The Bank of England’s chief cashier has indicated support for an official digital currency, saying it is “crucial” for central banks to consider entering the market before it becomes dominated by tech giants. Sarah John, who is responsible for issuing banknotes, said it was “really important” for central banks to consider digital currencies “as an [...]
DEBATE: Should the government intervene to stop cash disappearing? February 21, 2020 Should the government intervene to stop cash disappearing, as the Access To Cash panel has urged? YES, says Andrew Martin, chief executive of Retail Financial Consulting. It’s essential that cash remains a staple of British society in order to maintain social inclusion and economic stability. One need only look at Sweden, which is on the [...]
New £20 note enters circulation: Everything you need to know February 20, 2020 The Bank of England’s new polymer £20 note enters circulation for the first time today. The note, which was first unveiled in October, features British painter JMW Turner, will start appearing at ATMs and tills throughout the country today. The BoE said it expects half of ATMS across Britain to be dispensing polymer £20 notes [...]
UK and EU must avoid a ‘punch-up’ over financial services, says incoming BoE governor Bailey February 12, 2020 Britain and the European Union must find a way to settle disagreements over how the UK’s finance industry can do business with the bloc without it descending into a “metaphorical punch-up”, said incoming Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey. Bailey, who is currently head of the Financial Conduct Authority, also said it would be “hard [...]
BoE policymaker calls for stress testing to go beyond banking sector February 5, 2020 A Bank of England (BoE) policymaker has called for bank stress testing to extend beyond the banking sector. Speaking at the European Central Bank’s stress testing conference in Frankfurt, Donald Kohn said that the bank was looking at opening up stress testing to hedge funds and open-ended funds. Stress tests are used by the BoE [...]
Just two women applied to be governor of the Bank of England February 4, 2020 Just two of the 23 people who applied to succeed Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England were women, despite the Treasury enlisting a specialist headhunting firm in a bid to diversify the list of candidates. The government named Financial Conduct Authority boss Andrew Bailey, a former central banker, as the BoE’s next [...]
Bank of England avoids interest rate cut as Mark Carney bows out January 30, 2020 The Bank of England has held off from an interest rate cut despite a surge in expectations that it would reduce rates for the first time in four years. Today’s decision came even as the Bank slashed its long-term growth forecasts for the UK economy to account for Brexit disruption and Britain’s productivity crisis. Read [...]
DEBATE: Should the Bank of England cut interest rates this week? January 29, 2020 Should the Bank of England cut interest rates this week? Simon Ward, economic adviser at Janus Henderson Investors, says YES. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) keeps making mistakes because it ignores monetary trends. It hiked rates in August 2018 even though 12-month broad money growth (as measured by non-financial M4) had slumped from 6.5 per [...]
Incoming BoE head Andrew Bailey to be grilled by LCF mini-bond investigation January 23, 2020 Incoming Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey will be interviewed about his oversight of collapsed investment firm London Capital and Finance (LCF), an independent investigation said today. LCF collapsed in January 2019, leaving 11,600 investors who bought its mini-bonds facing collective losses of up to £237m. While LCF itself and its marketing material was regulated [...]