Bank of England minutes: New documents reveal flaws in financial crisis response January 6, 2015 The former directors of the Bank of England (BoE) have come under heavy fire after minutes of meetings from the time of the financial crisis released today revealed it suffered from a lack of transparency as well as “groupthink”. “The Bank appears to have been a very hierarchical organisation, with clear signs of ‘groupthink’ among [...]
Bank of England financial crisis minutes: BoE dubbed “the angel of death” by City watchdog January 6, 2015 At the peak of the crisis, the City watchdog was so scared that a lender’s discussions with the Bank of England could cause a run on that lender, it dubbed the Bank: “The angel of death.” Throughout the financial crisis, the Bank of England had to tread a careful line between propping up failing parts of [...]
Bank of England minutes: More light to be shed on BoE’s financial crisis response January 4, 2015 Minutes from meetings of the Bank of England’s directors between 2007 and 2009 are due to be released this Wednesday. The minutes should shed further light on the central bank’s response to the financial crisis which involved cutting its policy rate to a record low of 0.5 per cent and embarking on an ambitious and [...]
Bank of England: Mortgage approvals fall to 17-month low January 2, 2015 The number of mortgages rubber-stamped by banks dropped again in November, although by less than analysts had expected. Nevertheless, the figure is a 17-month low, underlining the trajectory of the market. During the month, banks approved 59,029 mortgages, down from 59,511 in October, but above the 58,500 analyst consensus. The fall has been a [...]
Co-operative Bank to speed up toxic loans sell off after failing Bank of England stress tests December 16, 2014 The Co-operative Bank was the only lender to fail the Bank of England’s stress tests yesterday. As a result, it is accelerating its plan to sell off or run down a £6.6bn book of bad loans from the pre-crash era. Eight high street institutions’ finances were tested to see how they would cope with a hypothetical [...]
Mark Carney’s Bank of England stress tests lived up to their name December 16, 2014 The Bank of England certainly knows how to conduct a stress test. It even managed to give the City’s hacks a stress test of their own at the crack of dawn yesterday. The press briefing began at the impolite hour of 5am and was punctuated by a power cut and subsequent change of venue. Having [...]
Co-op fails Bank of England stress test, RBS and Lloyds at risk December 16, 2014 The Co-operative Bank has failed the Bank of England’s (BoE) stringent new stress test, while Lloyds and RBS would be at risk in a new economic crisis. The prudential regulation authority (PRA) tested seven banks and building society Nationwide to see how they would handle a financial meltdown of epic proportions. While Lloyds, Standard Chartered, [...]
Bank of England stress test results: Lenders braced to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on IT improvements December 15, 2014 Britain's biggest banks are set to spend the next year pushing through major revamps of their IT systems, as stress tests have revealed problems in their ability to gather data on their own loan books. The lenders have been built up over decades from mergers of smaller banks, leaving them with a range of outdated [...]
Bank of England stress tests: There’s still an elephant in the room December 15, 2014 With the Bank of England releasing the results of its stress tests today, banks’ financial strength is still a major concern for markets, regulators and policymakers. The second set of stress-testing results in just a two-month period, following the comprehensive assessment issued by the European Banking Authority and European Central Bank in October, the latest [...]
Stressing out: Britain’s lenders will be ticked off by the Bank of England as new tests bite December 14, 2014 If you happen to stroll down to Threadneedle Street in the early hours of tomorrow morning and find a hive of activity do not be alarmed – it’s just the start of the Bank of England’s inaugural stress tests results. While most of London slumbers at 5am, prudential regulation authority (PRA) officials will be locked [...]