Bank of England delays cyber stress test as it focuses on Brexit December 5, 2018 The Bank of England (BoE) will delay work on a cyber stress test for banks as it focuses on Brexit preparations, according to minutes published today. The BoE’s financial policy committee (FPC) said it will put off a scheme to test how banks react to cyber attacks, which was due to launch early next year. [...]
Three simple answers to the UK’s productivity puzzle December 5, 2018 With political and policy attention focused almost entirely on one complex puzzle, it is easy to forget that there are others requiring urgent attention. Today's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) select committee report is a timely reminder that government action on the productivity puzzle is long overdue. Britain’s growth in productivity lags behind our [...]
From Northern Rock to lunch tables, no one is immune from the herd mentality December 5, 2018 The Bank of England and Federal Reserve held a two-day conference last week in London on big data and machine learning. All very interesting stuff. There was an intriguing vignette as we emerged from the conference room for the frugal lunch on the first day. Straight ahead was a table with sandwiches, fruit and the like. [...]
Majority of companies still waiting to pull the trigger on Brexit preparations, according to survey December 4, 2018 A majority of companies have made no changes to their business plans ahead of Brexit, according to research. The Bank of England’s (BoE) regional agents asked 369 companies in October and November whether they had made changes to their supply chains, set up new legal entities or relocated office ahead of either a no-deal scenario [...]
Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King savages May’s Brexit deal December 4, 2018 The former governor of the Bank of England Lord Mervyn King has slammed Theresa May’s Brexit deal and implicitly criticised his successor Mark Carney. King called the withdrawal agreement "incompetence of a high order". “It simply beggars belief that a government could be hell-bent on a deal that hands over £39 billion, while giving the EU both [...]
Mark Carney: Bank scenario was not an ‘exam crisis’ December 4, 2018 Bank of England governor Mark Carney rebuffed his critics in front of an audience of MPs this morning after insisting that his recent doomsday scenario was not an “exam crisis”. The Threadneedle street boss said that criticism of the Bank’s decision to make a report on a worst-case scenario – which warned that the pound could fall [...]
London Stock Exchange eyes Experian boss as new chairman December 3, 2018 The chairman of credit reporting company Experian is tipped to become the next head of the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Don Robert, who is a member of Court at the Bank of England, is the frontrunner to succeed the LSE’s outgoing chairman Donald Brydon, according to Sky News. Discussions between Robert and the LSE’s board [...]
UK banks can pat themselves on the back, but the system is still feeling the stress November 30, 2018 Breathe a sigh of relief: once again, all financial institutions have passed the Bank of England’s annual stress tests. But look beneath the surface, and suddenly the various allowances made this week start to undermine the good news. First, if the impact of the new accounting standard IFRS 9 that came into force in January was [...]
Editor’s Notes: Check back in with the forecasters in 2033 November 30, 2018 The Treasury’s Brexit scenarios, released this week, boiled down to a claim – made with pinpoint accuracy – that the Prime Minister’s deal will leave the UK economy 3.9 per cent smaller in 15 years, compared with staying in the EU. In other news, PwC estimates that artificial intelligence will increase UK GDP by 10.3 [...]
Big ambitions and grand challenges: How the industrial strategy fares one year on November 29, 2018 It’s now a year since the industrial strategy was launched. Encompassing a 255-page tome, it laid five foundations for productivity: ideas, people, infrastructure, places and the business environment. It promised waves of sector deals between government and industry to de-risk investment and improve workers’ skills. Six such deals were announced in the first year, from automotive [...]