Financial Times (December 21, 2013)
The UK is set to adopt “funny money,” abandoning paper currency for polymer. In 2016 the Bank of England “will begin introducing plastic notes that can be wiped clean and are difficult to tear. These are expected to last two-and-a-half times as long as the cotton and linen variety, which can quickly become ragged and soiled.” The UK will be following Australia, where paper currency was eliminated in 1996, resulting in a significant decrease in counterfeiting.
Tags: Australia, Bank of England, Counterfeiting, Currency, Paper, Plastic, UK
Investment Week (May 22, 2013)
Mark Carney will soon head the Bank of England (BOE). In his last speech as Governor of the Bank of Canada, he was critical of European leaders for not doing enough to stimulate the economy, blaming Europe’s lingering recession on “fiscal austerity, low confidence and tight credit conditions” and warning against a lost decade. In contrast, Carney was highly supportive of recent monetary stimulus by the Bank of Japan. Much of Carney’s future success at the BOE will be determined by the state of the eurozone, which accounts for the majority of U.K. trade.
Tags: Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank of Japnan, Europe, Fiscal austerity, Japan, Mark Carney, Recession, Stimulus
Financial Times (November 28)
“After 15 years in which the BoJ has failed to defeat deflation, the institution could do with some fresh thinking.” Facing a similar situation, the UK has appointed a Canadian to head the Bank of England, but “sadly, it is inconceivable that Japan would appoint a foreigner to lead one of its most important institutions.” Still there is hope that an outsider will be appointed. It is time to end “Japan’s overly timid anti-deflation policy.”
Tags: Bank of England, BOJ, Deflation, Fresh thinking, Japan, UK
Euromoney (November 26)
The UK looked outside in appointing the Bank of England’s next governor. “The surprising appointment of Mark Carney, Bank of Canada governor, could have profound consequences for the UK’s monetary framework, financial services industry and global bank reform drive.” Carney had been named Euromoney’s Central Bank Governor of the Year for 2012, an award he accepted in Tokyo during the IMF/World Bank meetings.
Tags: Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Governor, Mark Carney, Reform
IFA Online (November 23)
“Fears of a financial crisis hitting the UK are at their highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.” The risk of “a high impact event” occurring has risen to the highest level since the 2008 collapse according to the Bank of England’s Systemic Risk Survey. 76% of respondents identified “sovereign risk and the threat of an economic downturn” as “the biggest danger to the financial system.”
Tags: Bank of England, Financial Crisis, Lehman, Systemic risk, UK
The Independent (June 17)
The UK will eliminate the Financial Services Authority (FSA), assigning its regulatory functions to the Bank of England (BOE). The Independent agrees the FSA was “next to useless,” with the fatal weakness of seeing “the world through the eyes of those firms it was supposed to be monitoring.” The newspaper hopes the new regulators at the BOE “will regard themselves as gamekeepers….rather than cheerleaders.”
Tags: Bank of England, FSA, UK
