Mark Carney has been named as the new Bank of England governor, who will replace outgoing head Sir Mervyn King. The role of the governor is the most important unelected position in Britain, and is chosen by the British Government.
The Bank of England has decided not to extend its quantitative easing (QE) stimulus program, which has injected £375bn into the UK financial system. Under QE, the Bank creates money and uses it to buy government bonds to try to stimulate the economy.
Governance of the Bank of England is defective, according to the chairman of the Treasury Committee following the publication of three independent reviews into the Bank's performance. Andrew Tyrie said the reviews were too little, too late.
UK Labour leader Ed Miliband has indicated that a threat by banks to move abroad would not deter him from breaking them up if they did not agree to revolutionise their operations and put ordinary customers first.
A report into the Libor rate-rigging scandal says the system is broken and suggests its complete overhaul, including criminal prosecutions for those who try to manipulate it. Its author, regulator Martin Wheatley, told the BBC that bankers guilty of fixing Libor in future could be jailed.
The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold for August, and also held off from any more stimulus measures, as had been expected. Its rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has voted to maintain rates at the historic low of 0.5%.
Michel Barnier, the European commissioner in charge of financial regulation, is expected to bring forward changes to his market abuse directive and regulation within in the next weeks, the Financial Times said on Monday.
The deputy governor of the Bank of England (BoE) has said he did not give Barclays instructions to lower its Libor submissions in 2008. Paul Tucker said no government minister had asked him to lean on Barclays over its inter-bank lending rates. But he also told MPs that the BoE and the government feared that Barclays may need a bailout.
The Bank of England has announced on Thursday it will pump a further £50bn into the UK economy over the next four months through its quantitative easing (QE) program to try to help the economy.
China's central bank cut interest rates for the second time in two months to bolster an economy widely expected to record its sixth successive slide in growth in April-June.