Bank of England’s David Miles: Perfect interest rate forecasts are impossible September 30, 2014 Critics of the Bank of England who demand more detail on the future path of interest rates do not realise how hard it is to predict economic movements, policymaker David Miles said last night. The Bank has set out rough guidance, telling markets that interest rates will only rise slowly and will stay below pre-crisis [...]
Bank of England pledges to get tough on insurers’ risk plans September 25, 2014 INSURANCE firms will not get regulatory approval unless they can prove they have rigorously estimated the risks they face across their business, Bank of England boss Mark Carney said yesterday. The new Solvency II rules come into force next year, making insurers lay out more detailed risk and capital plans, across Europe. “This rigour has [...]
Mark Carney: Bank of England will get tough on the insurance industry September 25, 2014 The Bank of England is cracking down on malpractice in the insurance industry, governor Mark Carney said today. In a speech this afternoon, Carney indicated regulators will come down hard on insurance companies that give a distorted view of risk to decrease the amount of capital they are expected to hold. A new regime, known [...]
Bank of England under fire as it hides lender aid September 24, 2014 The bank of England is cutting the data published on support offered to banks when they get in trouble, in the hope that secrecy will give lenders time to recover before investors find out. But economists fear the Bank of England is becoming less transparent just as it is gaining major new powers. Liquidity support had [...]
Run on the Bank of England or is it just Open House weekend? September 21, 2014 Anyone walking past the Bank of England yesterday would’ve been forgiven for thinking there was a Northern Rock-style run on the Bank, as a queue formed right around the historic building and down the street. Luckily, it was just Open House weekend. The Cheesegrater, The Gherkin and The Lloyd’s Building also welcomed visitors for a [...]
MPC split again as two Bank of England policymakers vote to raise interest rates September 17, 2014 Bank of England policymakers voted to hold interest rates at a record low of 0.5 per cent again in September, despite two members of the monetary policy committee arguing to raise rates for the second month in a row. Minutes of the MPC's monthly meeting, published this morning, showed the hawkish Ian McCafferty and Martin [...]
Bank of England fears rate hike could send assets topsy turvy September 11, 2014 INVESTORS must be prepared for an increase in interest rates in the UK and across the world, or risk market chaos when the hike happens, Bank of England policymaker Donald Kohn said yesterday. Kohn fears that investors have surged into risky assets in a search for yield – exactly as very loose monetary policy was [...]
Bank of England likely to extend De La Rue money printing licence September 8, 2014 A licence to print money looks set to continue at banknote printer De La Rue, as the Bank of England (BoE) yesterday announced the Basingstoke based firm was its preferred bidder for a contract to print sterling banknotes. De La Rue, which first printed banknotes in 1860 for Mauritius, began printing banknotes for the BoE [...]
Bank of England MPC votes to keep interest rates at record low September 4, 2014 The Bank of England's monetary policy committee has done just what everyone was expecting, and held rates where they are at 0.5 per cent. The minutes of last month's meeting revealed the nine-person panel had been split seven to two in favour of leaving rates at their historic lows, and it is considered unlikely that [...]
Bank of England’s Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty vote against Mark Carney on interest rate hike August 20, 2014 Two policymakers finally split from the Bank of England’s unprecedented unanimity this month, voting for what would be the first interest rate hike in six years. The Bank’s two most hawkish monetary policy committee (MPC) members, Martin Weale and Ian McCafferty voted for a modest increase in interest rates. The change would have brought the [...]