Why the Bank of England must stop deleting its historical records March 11, 2014 THE DESTRUCTION of historical records by government bodies is a recurring motif of the unfree society. So the Bank of England’s hesitancy to publish transcripts from its meetings should be a serious cause for concern. Worse still, recordings of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) meetings are not even preserved. They are routinely deleted – the [...]
Why the Bank of England needs to stop deleting historical records March 11, 2014 A policy of deleting historical records at the Bank of England has come under fire, as individuals voice concerns about the implication for transparency. The tapes of policy setting meetings are routinely deleted – the transcripts destroyed once minutes are agreed upon. Today, Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie has asked for the Bank of [...]
Bank of England divided over economic slack March 11, 2014 Having made spare capacity a focus, Bank of England governor Mark Carney is now having to deal with disagreements over how people gauge the amount of slack in the UK's economy. While Carney said in February that spare capacity might be around one to 1.5 per cent in the labour market, he now believes that [...]
Bank of England’s deputy governor says low rates are here to stay March 10, 2014 Bank of England Deputy governor Charlie Bean spoke to the North East Chamber of Commerce today, suggesting that even once interest rates rise, the new normal for bank rate may be around two or three per cent, rather than the higher pre-crisis levels. Bean’s comments come quickly after monetary policy committee (MPC) member David Miles made [...]
Bank of England warned about the risks of forward guidance March 10, 2014 THE BANK of England’s forward guidance policy could encourage investors to take too much risk, Bank for International Settlements (BIS) economists have warned. A report by Andrew Filardo and Boris Hoffman from the Swiss-based bank said the monetary policy, practised in the UK, Europe, US and Japan, leads investors to believe they will know about [...]
Bank of England keeps rates at historic lows March 6, 2014 The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has elected to hold rates at their historic lows of 0.5 per cent. As expected the Bank also held asset purchases at £375bn. The Bank's decision to maintain rates at such low levels as unemployment falls and growth accelerates, has led many to question the credibility of the [...]
Bank of England suspends staff over FX inquiry March 5, 2014 THE FOREIGN exchange manipulation probe hit the Bank of England yesterday as it suspended an official following an internal probe. The Bank ramped up its own investigations, with the Oversight Committee of its Court of Directors launching an inquiry. And MPs said they will grill top Bank staff on the inquiry next week. The Bank said it has [...]
Why you’ll never see the Bank of England’s meeting transcripts March 3, 2014 The excellent Tony Yates recently asked why the Bank didn't produce transcripts, suggesting that minutes were taken, but verbatim word-for-word accounts were not kept. The US Federal Reserve recently released the transcripts from their 2008 meetings, providing some valuable insights into the crucial decisions made during the financial crisis. Yates makes some worrying [...]
Bank of England gets tough on foreign bank branches in UK February 25, 2014 FOREIGN banks will have to meet tough new criteria if they want to serve British high-street customers, under plans announced by the Bank of England this morning. The Bank’s prudential regulatory authority (PRA) wants to make sure banks can continue to serve customers even if the entity suffers a severe crisis. If the rules are implemented [...]
London Report: Barclays, Bank of England and Lloyds in focus February 9, 2014 BRITISH banks will be under the spotlight this week as Barclays and Lloyds deliver their full-year results and Bank of England governor Mark Carney updates the markets on its forward guidance policy for setting rates. Lloyds has already provided an update on its progress, predicting an underlying profit of £6.2bn for 2013 compared to £2.6bn [...]