UK government interest bill swells at fastest rate in over a decade December 21, 2021 Soaring inflation is swelling the government’s interest bill at the fastest rate in over a decade, reveal official figures published today. Interest payments on debt held by the government climbed over £15bn, or 54.1 per cent, over the last financial year to November, the fastest rate of acceleration since 2010, according to the Office for [...]
UK hits highest borrowing to GDP ratio since the 60s December 21, 2021 The UK borrowed a further £17.4bn in November, bringing the overall borrowing to GDP ratio to levels not seen since the 1960s. Net debt now sits at 2,317bn, around 96.1 per cent of GDP. While it is around £5bn less than November last year, the figure is also the second-highest November borrowing on record, the [...]
Standard Chartered hit with £46m fine for misreporting liquidity position December 20, 2021 The Bank of England has slapped Standard Chartered bank with a £46m fine for reporting errors and a lack of cooperation with regulators. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) said today that it would fine the bank for “failing to be open and cooperative” with the authority and “failings in its regulatory reporting governance and controls” [...]
Concerns over looming circuit breaker lockdown to weigh on London markets this week December 19, 2021 Concerns over whether the UK is heading for a pre-Christmas circuit breaker lockdown are likely to loom over investors this week. Ministers are reportedly drawing up plans to saddle Britain with tighter restrictions on socialising and household mixing to curb the rapid spread of Omicron. Health secretary Sajid Javid yesterday refused to rule out imposing [...]
Ashes: Five things we’ve learned from Test two, day four December 19, 2021 It’s been a wild ride watching England in the second Ashes Test these last few days, but not in an exciting “we might do it” kind of way. The disappointment has been palpable, but not surprising, and on day four England began the task of chasing more than 450 runs. At the end of play, [...]
Bank of England calls for tighter grip on global crypto markets December 19, 2021 Bigwigs at the UK's central bank will step up discussions with international counterparts to build a regulatory regime for crypto assets.
FTSE 100 lifts 0.13 per cent on better than expected November retail sales December 17, 2021 The FTSE 100 is up 0.21 per cent this morning after retail sales made a stronger than expected recovery in November.
Don’t fret about stagnant Bitcoin – at least it’s not fiat! December 17, 2021 In the last few weeks alone we have seen real evidence of just how much pressure our global fiat currency system is now under, reports Jason Deane.
Inflation has been Odyssey of 2021 for a behind the curve Bank of England December 17, 2021 Odysseus famously stuffed his ears with beeswax to avoid being lured by the sirens. Thousands of households across Britain were likely doing something similar to stop themselves from wincing at the final inflation reading of the year. Prices are now 5.1 per cent higher than they were a year ago. For anyone with an appetite, [...]
Citypages: Books to look back and books to look forward December 17, 2021 Central Banking 101 by Joseph Wang If you did not know what yesterday’s rate rise from the Bank of England meant, this book is for you. Over the last year, words like quantitative easing have been thrown around with surprising regularity, as happened to other concepts normally relegated to the financial pages. Central Banking 101 [...]