Bank of England policy changes: The Bank wants to cut MPC meetings to eight a year December 11, 2014 The Bank of England has announced a raft of changes to the way it operates in an effort to increase transparency – including cutting the number of meetings its monetary policy committe (MPC) has each year from 12 to eight. Does this mean MPC members are as bored of interest rates – which this month [...]
Ian McCafferty: Bank of England MPC hawk lists four reasons he votes for an interest rate-rise December 10, 2014 One of the Bank of England monetary policy committee's two resident hawks, Ian McCafferty, has explained his reasoning behind voting for an interest rate rise "sooner rather than later". During a speech at a breakfast organised by the Institute of Directors this morning, McCafferty explained why he's voted for voting for an interest rate rise [...]
Bank of England: Most mortgage borrowers could cope with an interest rate rise December 8, 2014 The majority of mortgage borrowers could cope if interest rates rose two percentage points, the Bank of England said today. According to the Bank's quarterly bulletin, which looked at the results of the annual NMG Consulting survey of household finances, if interest rates rose from their historic low of 0.5 per cent to 2.5 per [...]
Bank of England keeps base rate at 0.5 per cent for 69 months in a row December 4, 2014 The Bank of England has voted to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent for the 69th month in a row. The last time the UK's base rate changed was March 2009. If you're trying to remember what was happening back then, that month RPI also reached zero for the first time [...]
Bank of England: UK mortgage approvals fall to their lowest since 2013 December 1, 2014 The number of mortgages approved by banks fell to their lowest since June last year in October, figures by the Bank of England showed today. There were 59,426 approvals for house purchases during the month, down from 61,234 in September. That's down from an average of 63,727 over past six months. Mortgage approvals have been [...]
Deloitte probes Bank of England payments crash November 24, 2014 The Bank of England yesterday hired Deloitte to investigate the crash in its payments systems last month. On 20 October the, Real-Tim Gross Settlement (RTGS) system failed, causing faults in the Chaps payments channel, which is used for large-scale transactions. The system is largely used by companies and banks to transfer funds, but individuals also [...]
Bank of England tells banks’ directors to be more ambitious November 20, 2014 Banks’ directors are too focused on complaining about the risk of going to jail, and not doing enough to work on the big objectives of their companies, the Bank of England’s Martin Taylor said yesterday. To run a bank properly, non-executives should work together on the big strategic direction of the bank. Currently, they often [...]
Bank of England fines RBS over payments crash November 20, 2014 NEGLECTED IT systems could put the safety and soundness of RBS at risk, the Bank of England warned yesterday as it teamed up with the City watchdog to fine the bank £56m. The regulators were investigating a serious payments system crash, which locked millions of customers out of their accounts in mid-2012. It is a [...]
Fed to raise interest rates before Bank of England November 19, 2014 US INTEREST rates are expected to rise before those in the UK, as the Federal Reserve last night indicated it will not slow down its path to tighter money despite wobbles in the world economy. Mark Carney has indicated the Bank of England will keep rates lower for longer as wages are not yet rising [...]
Bank of England MPC minutes: Policymakers defy expectations to stay firm on interest rate hike vote November 19, 2014 The Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) voted 7-2 against raising rates in November, unchanged from last month's vote – despite speculation there might be a stronger vote in favour of keeping rates low. However, the minutes did reveal that there was a "material spread of views" amongst policy makers over the future outlook. [...]