Close Brothers shares sink as infamous short-seller warns of motor finance ‘wipeout’ Banking Shares in Close Brothers plummeted on Monday after a group notorious for short-selling warned the bank had “systematically misrepresented” its exposure to the motor finance scandal. The FTSE 250 bank nosedived as much as 12 per cent during afternoon trading after Viceroy Research, a group famed for its exposés of Wirecard and Home Reit, warned [...]
On this day: the nationalisation of the Bank of England Opinion The Bank of England Act 1946 came into effect 80 years ago today, formalising a compact and a degree of cooperation between the Bank and the Treasury which had been developing for years, writes Eliot Wilson The Bank of England is the second-oldest central bank in the world. Only the Sveriges Riksbank in Stockholm, which [...]
Trump’s reckless assault on central bank independence Economics Donald Trump once said he values loyalty “above everything else…more than brains, more than drive and more than energy.” If you’re wondering how he responds to perceived disloyalty, he’s also previously said “I love getting even with people.” With these two statements in mind, the Trump administration’s dramatic escalation of its war against the Chairman [...]
Former Federal Reserve chiefs round on Trump’s ‘vindictive’ Powell salvo January 12, 2026 Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to open a criminal indictment against Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell has been rounded on by all of his living predecessor, who accused the President of running the United States like a developing economy. In a highly unusual joint intervention, Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan rebuked the President’s most [...]
Andrew Bailey: Regulation is not hampering growth October 3, 2025 Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned of the dangers associated with paring back financial regulation, in a speech in which he also denied that the abundance of red tape foisted on the financial sector after the Great Financial Crash had impeded economic activity. Addressing the Klass Knot Farewell Symposium, Bailey, who was recently [...]
Bitcoin to form part of central bank reserves ‘by 2030’ September 23, 2025 Bitcoin will “coexist with gold” on central bank balance sheets as soon as 2030, one of the world’s largest banks has predicted, as banks’ continued move away from the dollar and the cryptocurrency’s falling volatility boost its credentials as a reserve currency. Strategists at Deutsche Bank predicted that bitcoin “will join gold in many central [...]
Bank of England ‘open minded’ on use of stablecoins in wholesale markets July 3, 2025 A director at the Bank of England has said Britain’s central bank is “open minded” on the use of stablecoins in wholesale markets in a marked softening of its stance in the technology. Speaking at the City Week conference, Sasha Mills, Executive director of Financial Market Infrastructure, said the Bank was “considering” what role stablecoins [...]
Relentless surge in government debt is unsustainable says BIS May 27, 2025 Policymakers across the world need to get a grip on the relentless surge in public government debt, a leading economist has warned. Agustin Carstens, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said fiscal authorities have a “narrow window” to put their house in order “before the public’s trust in their commitments starts to [...]
Rate-setter calls on Bank of England to adopt ‘activist’ approach to rates March 6, 2025 The Bank of England should adopt a more activist approach to setting interest rates in order to deal with the “substantial volatility” affecting geopolitics and financial markets, a rate-setter has said. Catherine Mann, an external member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), argued that rate-setters should be more willing to vote for more radical [...]