Bank of England concerned about business lending
The Bank of England is growing more and more concerned about the low level of lending available to small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. It is becoming more apparent that despite the UK government's £175 billion quantitative easing program, with many banks taking up the offer of increased liquidity, very little of this is actually being injected into the commercial market. As a consequence, last week's GDP figures showed a disastrous 0.4% reduction in the UK economy.
There is growing concern within the corridors of power that the UK banking sector is "letting down" the UK business arena and holding back the UK economy. Despite various promises from the banking sector to the UK government, so far there has been just a tiny increase in liquidity in the commercial market and indeed many consumers and businesses are being turned down for new lending arrangements.
The longer this particular strategy continues the more problems which will build up for not only UK businesses and UK consumers, but also the UK economy. It is vital that the commercial money market wheels begin to turn and liquidity is filtered through the system to those in need of urgent refinancing. However, with the economy not yet in recovery mode many banks are taking a cautious approach to the situation and holding fire on increasing their own individual liquidity.
Share this..
Related stories
Lloyds bank shareholders call for total clear out
Just 24 hours after it was announced that chairman Sir Victor Blank will be leaving Lloyds bank next year, there are growing calls for a total clear out of the top brass at one of the U.K.'s leading banking institutions. This is a company which for many years was renowned as one of the most conservative in the sector although the disastrous merger with HBOS has dragged the company down resulting i...
Read MoreWill other banks spin off their debts overseas?
The revelation that Barclays bank has in effect passed all the management of its toxic debt pile to a company in the Cayman Islands has surprised many in the banking sector. The deal, which will see Barclays bank pay a $400 million retainer over 10 years, involves transfer of the company's $12 billion toxic debt pile with the potential of further bonus payments on top of the $400 million already a...
Read MoreWill the UK high street ever be the same again?
As we see the likes of MFI, Woolworths and a whole host of other well-known names leave the high Street there are growing concerns that the UK high street is changing forever. This is an area of the economy which survived the online revolution but appears to have been knocked for six by the credit crunch from America and the ongoing worldwide economic slowdown.
In so many areas of t...
Now You Can Buy Bank Details On eBay!
The lax levels of security which some financial institutions in the UK currently have in place have culminated in the sale of a £35 PC on eBay which contained the details of over 1 million credit card applicants for Royal Bank of Scotland. While nobody was aware that the details had not been safely removed from the PC it seems as though record archiving group Graphic Data allowed one of its mach...
Read MoreUK factory gate data surprises analysts
Amid hopes that factory gate prices were set to increase during June it appears as though they actually fell by 0.2% against an expected rise of 0.3%. The 1.2% fall year-on-year is the largest single fall for over seven years and has made many analysts think again about the prospect of a short to medium-term recovery in the UK economy.
It was also interesting to see that input price...