BoE’s Andy Haldane warns against ‘Chicken Licken’ economic pessimism September 30, 2020 The Bank of England’s chief economist said there was a risk that overly pessimistic “Chicken Licken” views about the impact of Covid-19 would hold back Britain’s economic recovery from the pandemic. In a speech given today, Andy Haldane said that authorities such as the BoE have a “public responsibility to avoid economic catastrophizing” during the [...]
Evidence on negative rates ‘encouraging’, says Bank of England policymaker September 27, 2020 The Bank of England has seen “encouraging” evidence that negative interest rates could help the British economy during the downturn triggered by the coronavirus, a policymaker has said. Silvana Tenreyro, who sits on the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC), said the committee has been discussing what options it has in its toolkit, including “how effective [...]
The corporate bond market is set for a record year — but also a dangerous and dysfunctional one August 26, 2020 2020 is going to be a record year for the corporate bonds market. New issue investment grade volume in the first half of the year exceeded $2.5 trillion. Records are also being broken in high-yield junk debt, despite a rising corporate default rate. Last week, the US primary market broke through $1.3 trillion of new [...]
Former BoE governor Sir Mervyn King warns that increasing QE would be ‘premature’ August 3, 2020 The former Governor of the Bank of England has warned that it would be premature for the UK’s central bank to expand the quantitative easing scheme too early, saying such a step would be premature. Speaking to the Coronanomics podcast, King, who held the top job at the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street during the [...]
RBS chairman calls on Bank of England to lift dividend curbs July 3, 2020 The chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has called on the Bank of England to lift curbs on dividends by the autumn to make lenders more attractive to investors. The BoE had told lenders in March to scrap buybacks and dividends until the end of 2020 to bolster their finances in the face of [...]
UK High Court rules against Nicolas Maduro in Venezuelan gold case July 2, 2020 The High Court has ruled against Venezuela’s government in a legal battle over who controls $1bn (£799m) of gold reserves stored in the Bank of England. The Court ruled that the UK had “unequivocally recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as president”, rather than Nicolas Maduro, in a severe blow to Maduro’s cash-strapped administration. The case [...]
Bank of England to review climate impact of corporate bond-buying after crisis July 1, 2020 The Bank of England will look at introducing climate change considerations when deciding which corporate bonds it buys, governor Andrew Bailey said today. The central bank had been targeted by climate change protesters who have been calling and emailing it this week to demand a change in the way it helps companies survive the Covid-19 [...]
Signs of rising unemployment already apparent, says BoE’s Haskel July 1, 2020 Bank of England interest rate-setter Jonathan Haskel said that indicators of rising unemployment in the UK caused by the coronavirus crisis “are already revealing themselves.” In a speech given today, Haskel said there was a risk that Britain’s economy would be harder hit by the pandemic than the central bank has predicted. “I believe the [...]
UK economic outlook less grim but ‘considerable’ risks remain, says BoE’s Haldane June 30, 2020 The UK’s economic outlook has improved slightly since May but the risk of high and persistent unemployment remains, the Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane said today. “Looking ahead, risks to the economy remain considerable and two-sided,” Haldane said in a speech delivered online. “Although these risks are in my view slightly more evenly [...]
Bank of England tells lenders to push ahead with climate risk analysis June 29, 2020 The Bank of England and UK financial regulator today told banks and insurers to press ahead with analysing the impact of climate change on their operations. The Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF) — established by the BoE and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last year — published a guide setting out how financial firms can analyse [...]