Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro calls for gold held in Bank of England to be returned February 12, 2019 Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday that the Bank of England should repatriate the Venezuelan gold it holds in its vaults. “They have sequestered billions of dollars in gold in London that are ours – that is money to buy supplies, raw materials, food, medicines. They have sequestered $1.4bn [£1.09bn] for many months, that we [...]
Going for gold: How the Bank of England became a battleground of the Venezuela crisis February 10, 2019 While tens of thousands of Venezuelans continued their revolt against the regime of discredited strongman Nicolas Maduro last week, a rather different form of protest popped up in the Square Mile. A group of far-left protesters, who counted Ken Livingstone and Labour MP Chris Williamson among their ranks, accused the Bank of England of “theft” [...]
Bank of England slashes UK growth forecasts amid Brexit uncertainties and global slowdown February 7, 2019 The Bank of England today decided to leave interest rates unchanged as expected, but slashed UK growth forecasts as Brexit uncertainties mount. The bank's monetary policy committee (MPC), which last raised rates to 0.75 per cent in August last year, unanimously voted to hold interest rates for a fourth consecutive meeting. Read more: How will the [...]
Row over Bank of England’s Venezuelan gold heats up as senior Tory MP writes to Carney January 28, 2019 The row over the Bank of England’s handling of Venezuelan gold escalated tonight after the former chair of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee revealed he had written to governor Mark Carney expressing his concerns over the arrangement. Senior Tory MP Crispin Blunt urged the governor to block President Nicolas Maduro’s attempts to take back the gold, [...]
Mortgage approvals decline in November as Brexit uncertainty impacts housing market January 4, 2019 The number of mortgage approvals fell to a seven-month low in November as Brexit concerns continued to rattle the housing market. Mortgage approvals fell to 63,728 in November, down from 66,709 the previous month, according to new figures from the Bank of England (BoE) released today. Mortgage lending rose by £3.5bn in the same month, lower than the [...]
UK house prices 2019: What experts say will happen after Brexit December 31, 2018 Has there ever been a more difficult time to predict the future of UK house prices? Political uncertainty looms large over the UK’s property market, but experts have nonetheless given their expectations for the year to come. Bank of England governor Mark Carney showed how dangerous the numbers game can be in November, when he had [...]
UK banks could be tested for climate change resilience from next year, according to Bank of England governor Mark Carney December 17, 2018 UK bank stress tests could include resilience to the impact of climate change from next year, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said. Carney said he was weighing up whether the risks and opportunities of climate change should included in the test, which is known as the exploratory scenario, the Financial Times reported. Banking stress [...]
Editor’s Notes: The Bank of England must protect its independence December 7, 2018 Former chair of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen once said “the principle that a central bank should be independent from the government is unassailable.” Donald Trump probably thinks unassailable means you can’t sell it, but even if he understood Yellan’s point he seems determined to ignore it. His broadsides against Fed policy are quite [...]
Bank of England slammed over secret Venezuelan gold summit December 6, 2018 The Bank of England (BoE) has come under fire following reports of a clandestine meeting with senior representatives of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. The BoE is due to meet high-ranking Venezuelan officials in London tomorrow to discuss the return of gold worth $550m stored in the bank’s vaults, according to sources. Today it emerged MP [...]
How businesses are busy hedging Brexit risk December 6, 2018 Philippos Kassimatis explains some of the hedging strategies on offer as businesses prepare for March 2019 It was was only last week that Mark Carney said fewer than half the UK’s businesses have initiated contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit, causing alarm throughout Britain’s business and investment community. Looking at the headlines, there is a [...]