UK needs to raise interest rates now, says Bank of England policymaker Ian McCafferty October 26, 2014 A senior Bank of England (BoE) policymaker has said the UK should begin raising interest rates now, despite low inflation. Ian McCafferty is one of just two members of the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to have voted in favour of rate hikes since August. The seven other members warned against a “premature” tightening [...]
BoE’s Ben Broadbent: Low interest rates on government debt are down to savings glut October 23, 2014 Interest rates are not low due to central bank policy, but due to economic factors, Bank of England official Ben Broadbent said yesterday. Broadbent is referring to the interest on government debt as opposed to the interest rate set by the Bank. “I read a lot of economic commentary that says interest rates are low [...]
Bank of England’s MPC still split 2-7 on interest rate rise as eurozone and China pressures take their toll October 22, 2014 Minutes of September's meeting of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) show its members have become more pessimistic about the chances of raising interest rates early, as the impact of wobbles in China and the eurozone began to be felt in the UK. Policymakers said headwinds facing the economy – such as weak [...]
Bank of England’s Sir Jon Cunliffe tells banks to cut back pay permanently October 20, 2014 Banks will be less profitable for the foreseeable future, but have so far failed to cut back pay and bonuses to match, Bank of England deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe said yesterday. As governments stop propping up banks, they must pay more for funding, pushing up costs. And at the same time they are being [...]
Bank of England to investigate crucial CHAPS payments system crash October 20, 2014 Bank of England governor Mark Carney last night announced an independent probe into the fault which yesterday crashed the CHAPS payment system, used to channel large payments around UK accounts. The Bank of England described it as a “technical issue related to some routine maintenance of the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payment system”, [...]
Bankers’ pay may be cut to reflect lower industry returns, warns Bank of England executive Jon Cunliffe October 20, 2014 Bank of England deputy governor Jon Cunliffe has said bankers need to get used to lower salaries, as decreased industry returns since the financial crisis will force the UK's banks to cut employees' pay. "It is unlikely that we will see, or want to see again, the returns on equity that we saw before [...]
Chaps payments resume as Bank of England fixes its RTGS error October 20, 2014 The Bank of England said this afternoon it has fixed its real-time payment system, after it was down for most of the day. The Bank suspended its Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, which is responsible for large transfers, this morning, after it discovered an error. That caused the Clearing House Automated Payments System ("Chaps" [...]
Bank of England’s RTGS payment system suspended due to “technical issue” October 20, 2014 The Bank of England's (BoE) Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payment system has fallen foul of a technical glitch, causing the BoE to suspend the service until the problem is resolved. The situation is something of a nightmare for bankers: the system transfers money between banks in real time, acting as an intermediary, and is [...]
Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane: Interest rates could stay lower for longer October 17, 2014 The Bank of England's chief economist Andrew Haldane has warned that interest rates may need to be kept lower for longer due the deteriorating state of the world economy. The BoE kept rates at their record lows of 0.5 per cent last week citing concerns over health of the global recovery, lacklustre wage growth in [...]
Bank of England fires back at Europe’s bid to stamp on bonuses October 16, 2014 Bankers need bonuses to create incentives to behave well, and the EU’s efforts to stamp them out are harming this goal, the Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey said last night. Stepping up the prudential regulation authority’s campaign against the bonus cap, Bailey argued that the cap was a “bad policy”. He told the City of [...]