Sterling steady above $1.39 before Bank of England meeting
Sterling steadied around $1.39 against the dollar, buoyed by risk sentiment in markets, optimism over the outlook for COVID in Britain and some anticipation of a hawkish turn from the Bank of England when it meets. Britain’s pound has rebounded after most lockdown measures in England were dropped on July 19. After that it has stayed mostly […]
Dollar steady, sterling slips ahead of Bank of England meeting
The dollar slipped slightly in early European trade. This is after it have spent a week gradually edging away from two-month highs hit after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s surprise hawkish shift at its meeting. As traders weighed up different signals from Federal Reserve officials on the timing of a withdrawal of monetary stimulus, currency markets […]
BoE says stablecoin payments need same rules as banks
The Bank of England said that payments with ‘stablecoins’, which is a form of cryptocurrency usually pegged to a traditional currency, should be regulated in the same way as payments handled by banks if they start to become widely used. The central bank also said that it had made no decision about whether to issue […]
BoE’s Vlieghe sees rates rising in 2022 if economy recovers
BoE policymaker Gertjan Vlieghe said that the Bank of England could raise interest rates as soon as the first half of next year. This is if the job market bounces back faster than expected, but it is more likely to wait until later in 2022. Sterling strengthened against the dollar and euro. After Vlieghe’s remarks, […]
BoE’s Kashyap wants forensic investigation of Archegos collapse
The Bank of England policymaker Anil Kashyap said that the financial regulators should undertake a detailed cross-border probe into how the collapse of U.S. investment fund Archegos cost mostly foreign banks more than $10 billion. Kashyap is a finance professor at Chicago Booth business school. And also, he is an external member of the BoE’s Financial Policy […]
Bank of England aims for greener corporate bond portfolio
The Bank of England set out plans to make its 20 billion pounds ($28.4 billion) of holdings of sterling corporate bonds better aligned with government goals to achieve net zero carbon emissions. However, the central bank will not embark on an immediate sell-off of bonds issued by businesses that have high carbon emissions, such as […]
Bank of England tells banks to quantify climate risks
Bank of England executive director Sarah Breeden said that by 2050, banks and insurers are underestimating the potential impact of climate change on their business and should quantify risks from targeting net zero carbon emissions. For companies that face physical risks like fires and floods due to climate change, the banks and insurers hold assets […]
UK inflation more than doubles to 1.5% in April
British consumer price inflation more than doubled in April. The Bank of England hopes that this will be a temporary surge, because the economy is recovering from last year’s slump due to the pandemic. The Office for National Statistics said that the Consumer prices rose by 1.5% in April. This follows a 0.7% rise in March. […]
Bank of England warns over easy alternatives to Libor
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said that markets must not replace the tarnished Libor interest rate with alternatives that could end up replicating the same flaws that made it easy for banks to manipulate. The publication of some dollar denominations will continue until mid-2023 for outstanding contracts. But still the London Interbank Offered Rate is […]
Bank of England sets June milestone for scrapping Libor in derivatives
Britain’s financial regulators said that banks are encouraged to scrap Libor for pricing derivatives contracts from mid-June. Piling pressure on markets to speed up the long-anticipated demise of the tarnished interest rate benchmark. Use of the London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor in pricing new contracts such as home loans and credit cards have been set […]