Haldane giving evidence at the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards
Haldane: No change is not an option. Fully 70% or 80% of the IT spend of the big banks currently is about the maintenance of legacy (antiquated) systems...
The Political Economy of LTRO
INTRODUCTION
It's LTRO[1] that I’m talking about this time! LTRO the latest version of “economic life support those” crackpot surgeons in the Central Banks and Treasuries of Europe have come up with. What is the issue with it? As LTRO2 approaches, to on the leap day (29/2/2012) I present a number of theses about LTRO;
1. LTRO is a workaround for Crowding Out
2. LTRO is executed via a process called 'Round Tripping' or known as a ‘Carry Trade’
3. Hedge Funds are intrinsic to the success of LTRO
4. This makes governments dependent upon Hedge Funds (& not just the banks)
5. LTRO creates a cash balloon which props up the equity market
6. LTRO is a high-risk central bank strategy which could deflate at a stroke
7. Ironically the very Hedge Funds and Asset Managers who are intrinsic to the success of LTRO are already freaked out by the high risk nature of the policy,
Bank of England maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and the size of the Asset Purchase Programme at £200 billion
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £200 billion.
The minutes of the meeting will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 21 September.
Note to Editors
UK Inflation 4.4% in February 2011
CPI annual inflation – the Government’s target measure – was 4.4 per cent in February, up from 4.0 per cent in January.
The largest upward pressures to the change in CPI inflation came from:
Bank of England governor Mervyn King says bank reforms must not fail
Failure to push through reforms of the banking sector could lead to another financial crisis, Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned.
UK Financial regulation - from Tripartite to ‘Twin-peaks’
Financial Regulation: a preliminary consideration of the Government's proposals
The Treasury Committee
Seventh Report of Session 2010-11
Volume I
New asymptotix paper: Quantitative Easing and the Yield on the Ten Year Gilt
this intro page updated / edited 7th July 2012
(the paper probably needs a re-write & update too)
At the beginning of asymptotix, explaining our philosphy here, I said;-
Back in the day; the Monetarist / Keynesian debate, bursting out in the US when Reagan was elected, the Keynesians (e.g. Cowles Commission) could attack monetarists by saying that monetarists had no theory [the monetarists were 'Logical Positivists']. The monetarist response (Chicago School and Berkeley) was that the Keynesians did not understand science and particularly did not understand data.
David Cameron, Mervyn King and Obama prepares for G20 Summit
The world risks a return to the depression era of the 1930s if countries retreat behind trade barriers, David Cameron warned world leaders today. The Prime Minister, in South Korea for a meeting of the G20, said the “big battle” was to ensure world trade stayed open. He said: “The fear we should all have is a return to what happened in the 1930s: protectionsim, trade barriers, currency wars, countries pursuing beggar my neighbour policies - trying to do well for themselves but not caring about the rest of the world. That is the danger.
Bank of England Inflation Report August 2010
The recovery continued in the United Kingdom, with output growth across the first half of 2010 close to its historical average. But the level of economic activity remained well below its pre-crisis peak. The revival in the world economy also proceeded, albeit unevenly. The UK recovery is likely to continue, underpinned by the considerable monetary stimulus, further growth in global demand and the past depreciation of sterling. But the risks to growth remain weighted to the downside. Spare capacity is likely to persist over the forecast period, although its extent will depend on the strength of demand and the evolution of supply, both of which are uncertain.