UK Economics Update Financial Stability Report highlights constraints on bank lending The Bank of England’s latest Financial Stability Report (FSR) supports our view that bank lending growth will remain sluggish for a prolonged period, thus constraining the likely recovery in the... 26th June 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Monetary Indicators Monitor (Jun.). The latest monetary indicators confirm that the Bank of England’s asset purchases under its quantitative easing (QE) programme are providing some boost to the money holdings of the non-bank sector... 18th June 2009 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Will the Spanish bank rescue package be enough? The announcement by the Spanish Government that it plans to set up a fund to provide capital to the ailing banking sector is certainly good news. But on its own, it will not be enough to prevent the... 16th June 2009 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Euro-zone bank losses: halfway through? In its latest Financial Stability Review, published yesterday afternoon, the ECB has taken a less gloomy view on the potential losses that euro-zone banks still have to face relative to a previous IMF... 16th June 2009 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update The Baltics remain a weight on Sweden’s shoulders Today’s announcement that the Swedish Riksbank is to borrow €3bn from the ECB confirms that, while the green shoots of recovery may be starting to emerge in parts of the global economy, the Baltic... 10th June 2009 · 1 min read
US Economics Focus Will the Fed's actions eventually lead to runaway inflation? 9th June 2009 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Euro-zone Monetary Indicators Monitor (May) April’s data revealed that there was no let-up in the downward trend in both broad money and lending growth in the euro-zone. This further supports our view that the ECB’s injections of short-term... 29th May 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Lenders fail to pass on fall in funding costs The falling level of interbank lending rates has been an encouraging aspect of the recent improvement in conditions in both financial markets and the wider economy. Unfortunately, there is limited... 26th May 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Monetary Indicators Monitor (May) The latest monetary indicators show that the boost to the monetary base from the Bank of England’s asset purchases is not yet feeding through into a ignificant pick-up in lending to the wider economy. 21st May 2009 · 1 min read
Global Economics Focus Lessons from the Nordic financial crises of the 1990s The Nordic authorities’ handling of the early 1990s banking crises has since been hailed as being close to best practice. Nonetheless, given that a global economic upturn was a key factor behind the... 20th May 2009 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Focus Lessons from the Nordic financial crises of the 1990s The Nordic authorities’ handling of the early 1990s banking crises has since been hailed as being close to best practice. Nonetheless, given that a global economic upturn was a key factor behind the... 20th May 2009 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Focus Lessons from the Nordic financial crises of the 1990s The Nordic authorities’ handling of the early 1990s banking crises has since been hailed as being close to best practice. Nonetheless, given that a global economic upturn was a key factor behind the... 20th May 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Corporate bond issuance won't plug the lending gap The recent pick-up in corporate bond issuance suggests that, even though banks remain reluctant to lend, companies are managing to access funds from elsewhere. However, it looks unlikely that higher... 19th May 2009 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update German 'bad bank' plan brings little encouragement The ‘bad bank’ plan approved by the German Cabinet today goes a bit further towards solving banks’ problems than measures existing elsewhere in the euro-zone. But while the plan should improve banks’... 13th May 2009 · 1 min read