Bank of England’s Martin Weale: Interest rate hike remains “finely balanced” March 11, 2015 The eventual interest rate hike remains "a finely balanced tug of war" and "pulls in both directions have intensified", a member of the Bank of England's rate-setting committee said in a speech made today. Weale said the bank must weigh the fact rising wages without a corresponding pick-up in productivity will strengthen the case for [...]
Bitreserve and CNET founder Halsey Minor talks dot-commers, virtual currencies and the Bank of England’s open-mindedness March 8, 2015 You might not have heard of Halsey Minor, but it’s likely that you’ve indirectly benefited from one of his many achievements. He’s one half of the brains behind CNET, the technology media website which, founded in 1994, was in the vanguard of internet firms, and is still one of the most-visited tech information resources in [...]
Bank of England tight lipped on liquidity market probe March 5, 2015 Threadneedle Street was on lockdown yesterday, as Bank of England officials declined to give any details of potential fraud around its liquidity operations in the crisis years. A spokesperson for the Bank said it would not answer questions on speculation over which of the Bank’s schemes the alleged fraud relates to. “We are not getting [...]
Bank of England interest rate decision: MPC holds at record low for sixth year March 5, 2015 The Bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) voted not to touch interest rates for what's now the 72nd month. This means interest rates have been held at a record low 0.5 per cent for six years. If you're struggling to think back this far, this time in 2009, Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" was gracing cinema screens. [...]
Serious Fraud Office to probe Bank of England’s liquidity auction March 4, 2015 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating Bank of England liquidity auctions held during the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008. The central bank confirmed last night that it had handed over the findings of an independent inquiry conducted by Lord Grabiner QC into whether any bank officials knew of, or took part in, attempts [...]
Bank of England liquidity auctions under investigation by Serious Fraud Office March 4, 2015 The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating the Bank of England's (BoE) money-market auctions in late 2007 and early 2008 for possible fraud. The Bank said it had referred information relevant to the auctions to the SFO in November. This is the first time the Bank's auctions has been put under investigation by the SFO. [...]
Bank of England currency chief sacked for “at least 20 breaches” of protocol March 3, 2015 The Bank of England's chief currency dealer Martin Mallett was sacked for "at least 20 breaches of protocol" – some of which were unearthed during a parliamentary grilling into how much the bank had known about this. "We discovered a series of misjudgements that Mr Mallett had made unrelated to the Grabiner inquiry," Carney told [...]
Bank of England says high frequency trading helps markets March 3, 2015 While Michael Lewis suggested high frequency trading meant markets were "rigged" in his book "Flash Boys", however a research paper by the Bank of England has found such practices actually beneficial. High frequency trading firms use technological tools and computer algorithms to make a number of big, fast trades. Investment position may be held for seconds, [...]
Insurers win reprieve over rule changes after Bank of England ERM warning March 2, 2015 Insurers such as Just Retirement have escaped a potentially devastating blow to their earning power thanks to a regulatory re-think over new capital requirements. The Bank of England’s prudential regulation authority (PRA) had been considering rules that may have forced them to abandon the highly lucrative equity release mortgage (ERM) market. Industry sources last [...]
Bank of England trains 150 staff to monitor forex markets properly after rate-rigging scandal February 26, 2015 More than 150 Bank of England staff have been retrained to keep an eye on foreign exchange markets properly, in the wake of the manipulation scandal. Although a review led by Lord Grabiner found the Bank’s staff had not done anything wrong, officials are concerned that they did not uncover the benchmark manipulation which led [...]