A post-Brexit City: MPs ask the right questions January 25, 2019 City in the morning, Westminster in the afternoon – there was a time when this was the daily routine for a number of MPs. These days, alas, one is hard-pressed to find a parliamentarian who truly understands the Square Mile, but former corporate lawyer Nicky Morgan can claim to be one of them. As head [...]
UK household debt not at unsustainable levels, says Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent January 23, 2019 Bank of England deputy governor for monetary policy Ben Broadbent said household debt in the UK has not hit unsustainable levels. Rapid debt growth is a better predictor of potential financial distress than debt levels, he said, and argued that British household debt has not grown at a worrying rate. Traditional unsecured debt, including credit card [...]
Pound rises to 10-week high as fears of a no-deal Brexit recede January 23, 2019 Sterling rose to above $1.30 today reaching a 10-week high as fears of a no-deal Brexit eased. The pound also rose against the Euro to its highest level in a month, rising to near €1.15. Sterling’s rise was helped by hopes that the Labour Party would move to prevent a no-deal Brexit. Labour MP Yvette [...]
Contract enforceability the ‘elephant in the room’ in Brexit discussions says MP January 22, 2019 Uncertainty around the enforceability of contracts is the “elephant in the room” in Brexit discussions, the chair of the justice select committee said today. Speaking to City A.M., Conservative MP Bob Neill cited insurance contracts and derivatives as examples of areas where there was still a great deal of uncertainty about post-Brexit contract enforceability. EU-based firms [...]
Forget Brexit – the British economy is running out of money January 17, 2019 The media circus around Brexit is currently the focus of virtually all economic commentary on the UK. This fixation is so all-consuming that we risk missing another real threat to the economy: the dramatic slowdown in the growth rate of broad money This refers to the total amount of money in the economy. There is [...]
Eager for a house price fall? It’s time for a lesson in economics January 15, 2019 Would it be a good thing if house prices in the UK fell? The British public, a host of commentators on Twitter, and even some economists seem to think so. A recent YouGov poll asked Britons whether a 30 per cent fall in property values after Brexit would be a “bad thing”. Just 32 per [...]
The key to improving our dismal productivity? Reignite the UK’s competitive instincts January 11, 2019 The dismal productivity results out this week should cause alarm for anyone who cares about UK prosperity. And we need to talk about it. Productivity – the cumulative output of our workers per hour – is the critical indicator of how competitive we are as a nation, and the surest way of delivering sustained wage growth. [...]
Lending growth slows as consumers remain cautious ahead of Brexit January 4, 2019 Consumer lending growth dropped to its slowest rate in more than three years in November, according to new data from the Bank of England (BoE). The annual growth rate for consumer credit slowed to 7.1 per cent in November, reflecting weaker flows of new lending, the BoE said. The growth rate was the slowest since [...]
Mortgage approvals decline in November as Brexit uncertainty impacts housing market January 4, 2019 The number of mortgage approvals fell to a seven-month low in November as Brexit concerns continued to rattle the housing market. Mortgage approvals fell to 63,728 in November, down from 66,709 the previous month, according to new figures from the Bank of England (BoE) released today. Mortgage lending rose by £3.5bn in the same month, lower than the [...]
Ex-Virgin Money boss among two women replacing men on Bank of England’s financial policy committee January 3, 2019 Former boss of Virgin Money Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia has been added to the Bank of England’s financial policy committee alongside the chair of the Banking Standards Board Dame Colette Bowe, chancellor Philip Hammond announced today. The pair will replace Richard Sharp and Martin Taylor, who are stepping down at the end of the first quarter [...]