United Kingdom
B of E's George predicts 3-year downturn
UK - Sir Edward George hinted last night in a speech that he would back further cuts in interest rates and warned the global economic slowdown could last for three more years.
EU candidates told not to focus only on inflation
UK - Central banks in countries seeking to join the European Union should ensure that their battle against inflation doesn't harm economic growth, a senior official at the European Central Bank said.
BOE Oct minutes: MPC voted 8-1 to cut repo rate
UK - The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to cut the repo rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.5% in October, just weeks after it had cut rates by an equal amount in a 7-2 vote, according to minutes of those meetings released…
Discussion paper from the Bank of England
RESEARCH - Bank of England External MPC Unit Discussion Paper No.6 by Nicoletta Batini and Edward Nelson, October 2001, Friedman Revisited.
Discussion paper from the Bank of England
RESEARCH - Bank of England External MPC Unit Discussion Paper No.5 by Bennett T. McCallum and Edward Nelson, October 2001, Monetary Policy for an Open Economy.
Sharp fall in UK inflation revealed
UK - The headline rate of UK inflation, which includes mortgage interest payments, fell last month by 0.4 of a percentage point to 1.7%.
Prime candidate for Bank of England hot seat
ARTICLE - In all the turmoil over a momentous weekend, a valuable contribution to City gossip is in danger of being overlooked. The esteemed City chronicler, Christopher Fildes, reminded us in his Spectator column last week that the next big job vacancy…
Speech by David Clementi of the Bank of England
SPEECH - Deputy Governor of the Bank of England David Clementi spoke at the launch of the Oxford Centre for Computational Finance, University of Oxford, 10 October.
BoE's Clementi makes no comment on future of rates
UK - Bank of England Deputy Governor David Clementi used a speech on Wednesday 10 October to discuss the international financial system, confounding rumours that he planned to signal the Bank would not cut interest rates again.
Fed best at policy communication? Not necessarily
UK - If you thought the U.S. Federal Reserve was the paradigm of central bank transparency while the European Central Bank struggled to communicate policy, think again. This comes from a recent report entitled "How Do Central Banks Talk?" published by…
UK accused of being 'money launderers' paradise'
UK - Britain still offers a safe haven for terrorist money and the authorities are doing virtually nothing about it, according to a damning report by a French MP.
B of E says For Ex turnover down in last 3 years
UK - Average daily spot and forward foreign exchange transactions in London are worth $504 billion a day, down 21% from $637 billion a day in 1998, the Bank of England said Tuesday 9 October.
Bank of England governor positive on UK prospects
UK - Sir Edward George, the governor of the Bank of England, believes the 11 September attacks on the US have not had a great effect on Britain's domestic economy and he has suggested they may have only a short-term effect on the world economy.
'No prior talks' on emergency interest rate cuts
UK - The world-wide cuts in interest rates in the wake of the terror attacks on New York and Washington was not coordinated in advance, according to a prominent former member of the Bank of England's policy-making Monetary Policy Committee.
Many Britons ignorant of Euro
ARTICLE - Captain Euro is the Euro's friendly-face, an animated character who, with his band of merry men and women, are here to educate people about Europe and its new currency.
Bank of England cuts interest rates, quarter point
UK - The Bank of England has cut UK interest rates by a further quarter point as it tries to stem the economic turbulence triggered by last month's terror attacks.
Bank of England News Release
NEWS RELEASE - Official News Release from the Bank of England on interest rate decision, 4 October.
Banks fail on internet targets
UK - Banks have failed to meet targets for cost savings from internet banking and almost half believe the business case for setting up web services may not be viable.
More to economic forecasts than meets the eye
ARTICLE - A letter published in the London edition of the Financial Times Wednesday 2 October argues against an editorial - The value of IMF forecasts - the FT published the previous week.
PM Blair gives strong endorsement of euro entry
UK - British Prime Minister Tony Blair Tuesday gave his strongest endorsement yet of British membership in the European single currency.
Moves to curb cash laundering at bureaux de change
UK - Britain is the last European Union country not to regulate bureaux de change, which UK ministers believe act as a conduit for dirty money.
Offshore banks warned over controls
UK - Offshore financial centres, which include the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, face a "bleak future" unless they improve anti-money laundering controls in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the US, Britain's main financial regulator warned…
Speech by Christopher Allsopp of Bank of England
SPEECH - Speech by Christopher Allsopp, Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, delivered in the Scott Policy Seminar Series of the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre (NIERC), 19 September.
Watchdog rules credit card retail fees excessive
Fees paid by retailers to credit card companies are "excessive" and anti-competitive, the competition watchdog said in a provisional ruling yesterday.