As Bank of England minutes reveal a unanimous vote to hold interest rates, should its first hike wait until 2016? January 21, 2015 John Longworth, director general at the British Chambers of Commerce, says Yes The latest MPC minutes make it clear that even the hawks don’t believe there is a convincing case for near-term rises in interest rates, something that UK businesses will applaud. Falling global oil prices, Eurozone uncertainty, sluggishness in emerging markets, and the near [...]
Bank of England minutes: Pound drops as MPC returns to agreement on interest rate rises January 21, 2015 The pound fell against both the euro and the dollar today, after Bank of England policymakers returned to agreement on the importance of keeping interest rates low. Minutes published this morning showed the Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC), which sets interest rates, voted unanimously against raising rates from their historic low of 0.5 per cent. [...]
Bank of England keeps interest rates at 0.5 per cent for 70th month in a row January 8, 2015 The Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) kicked off 2015 by keeping the base rate at 0.5 per cent. It's the 70th consecutive month rates have been held at historic lows, and the last rise was way back in March 2009. We'll have to wait until January 21 to find out who voted for [...]
Bank of England financial crisis files: Crash pushed regulators to the brink January 6, 2015 The Bank of England was pushed close to breaking point during the financial crisis, according to previously unseen documents published today, with staff exhausted and bosses struggling to keep up with the pace of events. Officials repeatedly underestimated the scale of the crash, hoping the steps taken to address each problem – such as the [...]
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 [...]