United Kingdom
BoE Plenderleith comments on sterling bond market
SPEECH - In a speech to a conference organised by the Association of British Insurers on Apr 2, 2001, Ian Plenderleith, executive director of the Bank of England and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, reviews developments in the sterling non-gilt…
Computer support for reserves managers-Nugee
RESERVE MANAGEMENT - Deciding on the right level of computer support for reserve managers in a world of fast changing technology often makes it preferable to outsource some IT provision, says John Nugee, former head of reserve management at the Bank of…
BOE Julius to leave central bank in 2 months-FT
UNITED KINGDOM - DeAnne Julius, one of the most dovish members of the Bank of England's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, is poised to leave the central bank in two months.
New measure of core inflation in the UK-BoE paper
CENTRAL BANK RESEARCH - The Bank of England's monetary policy committee research unit has published a paper which addresses the usefulness of measures of core inflation. The paper, commissioned by external MPC member DeAnne Julius, uses an 'improved'…
BoE faces £1bn BCCI lawsuit
Following a ruling on Thursday 22 March, Deloitte and Touche, liquidators of the Bank for Credit and Commerce Interantional, have been given leave to sue the Bank of England for its alleged failures as supervisor of BCCI
The New Economy: Myths and Realities-Wadhwani
SPEECH - In his Travers Lecture at the London Guildhall University on Mar 20, 2001, Sushil Wadhwani, an external member of the Bank of England monetary policy committee, argues it is possible that measurement issues have led forecasters to overestimate…
Financial competition, risk and accountability
BOOK - A new book has just been published by Palgrave "Financial Competition, Risk and Accountability: British and German Experiences" edited by Frowen and McHugh. Recent decades have seen a sharp increase in financial competition and excessive risk…
BoE ready to cut UK rates if necessary-minutes
Britain's central bank is ready to lower borrowing costs if the global economic outlook worsens or British consumer spending starts to ease, minutes of the Bank's last policy meeting showed on Mar 21, 2001.
Thorpe leaves UK's Financial Services Authority
Phillip Thorpe is stepping down as managing director of the UK's Financial Services Authority and will be taking on a new role as president of the Futures Industry Institute based in Washington, DC.
UKRAINE: Former deputy central bank chief detained
Reserves scandal claims former deputy governor
BoE ready to act if sharp US downturn-Plenderleith
Britain's central bank will be ready to cut interest rates again if the slowdown in the U.S. economy proves more severe than expected, Bank of England Executive Director Ian Plenderleith said on Mar 14, 2001.
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin - Spring 2001
RESEARCH PAPER - The Bank of England has published the spring 2001 issue of the Quarterly Bulletin, the first issue to be published to a new timetable separated from the quarterly Inflation Report. There are four key articles, mainly dealing with the UK…
UK banks at fault over Abacha money laundering-FSA
RESEARCH REPORT - The UK Financial Servicies Authority has concluded an investigation into UKbanks' financial dealings with the deposed Nigerian leader, General SaniAbacha. The report is strongly critical of control failures at 15 UK bankswhich laundered…
Recent Developments in Financial Markets-Clementi
SPEECH - In a speech titled "Recent Developments in Financial Markets: Some Implications for Financial Stability" delivered at the Banca D'Italia on Mar 9, 2001, David Clementi, deputy governor of the Bank of England, discusses some recent developments…
Recent US data 'quite encouraging' - BoE George
Central bankers from the Group of l0 industrialized nations believe a pick-up in the U.S. economy during the second half of this year "remains the most likely outcome," Eddie George, current chairman and head of the Bank of England, said on Mar 12, 2001.
The rise and fall of consortium banks-by R Roberts
ARTICLE - Consortium banks, which flourished in the early "unregulated" years of the Euromarkets, have all but disappeared. Richard Roberts explains how concern about their stability prompted the BIS to develop the principle of "parental responsibility"…
Bank of England holds rates at 5.75% for now
The Bank of England left its key interest rate steady at 5.75 percent on Mar 8, declining to cut rates despite a deteriorating global economic outlook.
Impact of macro news announcements on exch rates
Andrew Clare and Roger Courtenay from the Bank of England have written an interesting paper titled "Assessing the impact of macroeconomic news announcements on securities prices under different monetary policy regimes". The study investigates whether the…
IMF urges UK maintain cautious fiscal stance
The IMF strongly approves of the UK's current monetary and fiscal policy framework saying that it has contributed to the longest period of sustained non-inflationary output growth in 30 years, but warned Chancellor Gordon Brown not to loosen the public…
UK euro entry debate finely balanced-BoE's George
Britain's central bank governor on Feb 23, 2001 declared himself a euro pragmatist, and said the arguments for and against the country joining the euro zone were finely balanced.
UK budget should not influence BoE-MPC's Nickell
The fact that the next policy meeting of Britain's central bank comes the day after the annual budget should not prevent its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) from altering interest rates, an MPC member has said.
'Foreign Exchange Reserves Management'-John Nugee
The Centre for Central Banking Studies at the Bank of England has recently published a handbook on "Foreign Exchange Reserve Management" written by John Nugee who at the time was head of reserve management at the Bank. This is one of the few…
UK MPC voted unaminously for Feb rate cut-minutes
Minutes of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee meeting in early February 2001 showed all nine members backed the cut to 5.75 percent, with some seeing a case for a half point reduction in borrowing costs.
BoE pressed to publish dissent on forecasts
Pressure is mounting on the Bank of England to make its inflation forecasts more transparent despite recent attempts by the central bank to make public the divergent views of its policymakers. The Bank's quarterly inflation forecast is closely watched by…