Bank of England: Calls to spend, spend, spend

27 09 2010 Savers told to stop moaning and start spending. Mr Bean (Deputy Governor) said low returns on savings were part of the Bank of England's strategy in that older households could afford to suffer since they had benefited from previous property price rises. 

Britain has indeed become a fragmented Nation and one by which taxpayers must pay dearly in funding opposing Political “shop counter staff” whose efforts be toward   selectivity (out-sourcing) to “others” whom, while accomplishing broad goals, also accepts responsibilities on behalf of the Governments should heads need to roll. As to a recession it is sad to read that in the December of 2009 Mr Darling handed the  taxpayers a bill for £850bn to bail-out the private Banks but equally sad is to read that £300,000-a-month be paid by taxpayers in providing the Treasury with financial advice. In August 2010 the Bank of England spent some £3,500,000 of taxpayers money overhauling its forecasting model following which an influential watchdog announced bank accounting rules 'fatally flawed'.

 

It all boils down to “standards” and British taxpayers like so many others in other Countries can no longer afford to buy-off failures to none standards as allowed by those whom relie on others to do their jobs for them.

WHERE HAS ALL OF THE MONEY GONE?. Please find below some British history then ask yourself who has profited by higher prices, higher salaries, bonuses and dividends. It is not just “investors” but the Government too through taxation and for no effort on its part. Perhaps the term “confict of interests” is warranted since while you financially support the Government they budget others as to their standards in doing for them – “more for less”. Contrast that against tax billing to Central Government which back-feeds Councils and where cut-backs to such Councils now puts the onus on them to face you both locally and directly to new ways/methods of removing wealth from the ordinary person on the street.

 

00 04 1946Bank of England Nationalised.

00 04 1946 Civil Aviation Nationalised.

00 00 1947 Telecommunications Nationalised

00 00 1947 National Coal Board created

00 00 1948 National Health Service established

00 00 1948 Nationalisation of the Railways, Canals, Road haulage and electricity.

00 00 1951 By this date the iron, steel and gas industries had also been brought into public ownership.

00 00 1997Bank of England - independence from the government.. When Brown took over as chancellor after the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1997, he almost immediately granted the Bank of England, which is responsible for setting interest rates, independence from the government. Brown also set up the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

00 04 2007Brown lost £2bn selling UK's gold.

?? 09 2007Northern Rock Darling authorised the Bank of England to lend Northern Rock up to £20 billion. Mr Darling was then criticized for so much public money being tied up in a private company!

03 12 2007Bank details 'sold on internet'.

06 12 2007HMRC LOSS of Banking information. HMRC admits seven security breaches.

14 03 2008 Budget: Road Tax –Treasury would get some £1 billion from the changes. 

22 04 2008RBS announces £12bn rights issue. Sir Fred Goodwin defended his position after asking shareholders to pump in £12 billion of new capital. Sir Fred, whose £4.2 million pay package last year included a £2.9 million bonus

27 05 2008PM facing rebellion over car tax. Chancellor Alistair Darling to re-think plans.

14 11 2008RBS plans to axe 3,000 banking jobs.

28 11 2008Government to own majority of RBS. RBS is receiving the biggest injection of public funds under the Government's £37 billion bail-out package announced in October.

15 12 2008RBS reveals Madoff exposure. A report in the Financial Times said HSBC Holdings had emerged as one of the largest victims, with potential exposure of about $1 billion

17 12 2008spend -Bailed-out bank pays £1.6bn bonuses.

19 01 2009RBS seen unveiling massive losses.

08 02 2009£1bn bonuses plan for bank bosses. RBS propped up with public money wants to pay its staff almost £1 billion in bonuses.RBS is "contractually" obliged to give employees of ABN Amro, the Dutch bank bought by RBS.

10 02 2009no formal banking qualifications MPs on the cross party Commons Committee heard how Sir Fred earned £1.46 million last year and Mr Hornby was paid a salary of nearly £1 million. However, all four witnesses admitted they had no formal banking qualifications.

07 03 2009Government increases Lloyds holding. The Government is to insure £260 billion of the bank's potentially "toxic" assets, according to the Treasury. In return the taxpayer will up its ownership of the bank from 43% to 65% - or 77% including non-voting shares.

08 03 2009Taxpayer funds another bank bailout. Alistair Darling insisted propping up Lloyds was "vital" for the economy. Under the deal the Government's stake in the bank will rise from 43% to at least 65% - It already owns a near-70% stake in rival group Royal Bank of Scotland.

01 04 2009Tesco to open banks. Supermarket giant Tesco is planning to open 30 bank branches in its stores by the end of the year and will start offering current accounts within the next two years.

03 04 2009RBS shareholders vent their anger.

07 04 2009RBS planning to axe 4,500 UK Jobs. The Royal Bank of Scotland has begun consultation with unions over plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs in the next two years, of which 4,500 will be in the UK. The bank is cutting the roles from its backroom staff under plans to save £2.5 billion over the next three years.

22 06 2009supermarkets take on the banks Tesco muscled in on the market for financial services about 12 years ago in a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). It also recently bought out RBS to take full control of the business and has reported a "steady growth in customer accounts". Tesco is now piloting in-store bank branches in six locations across the country, with plans to open <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />30 in-store banks by the end of the year.

01 07 2009Tesco 'could bid for Northern Rock' Tesco may launch a bid for Northern Rock as the Government attempts to sell off the nationalised lender before the General Election, according to reports. A Tesco spokesman said the report was "pure speculation".

03 11 2009Extra £30bn for bailed out banks. The Treasury has announced the injection of some £25.5 billion into The Royal Bank of Scotland and some £5.7 billion into The Lloyds Banking Group, this new money being necessary in complying with EU competition rules.

04 12 2009£850bn bill to rescue British banks. The National Audit Office (NAO) says the total public sector support for Britain's banks runs to £850 billion - with the final cost of the financial rescue unlikely to be known for years. Additionally the cost of financial advice to the Treasury since September 2007 is expected to balloon to £107 million by next April.

06 12 2009Bankers facing windfall tax threat. Alistair Darling warns that the better-off may have to shoulder more towards the cost of the Nations economic recovery. new higher rate of income tax, of 50p on earnings of more than £150,000, to be introduced from next April.

19 03 2010 Consumer Protection Agency Seeks its First Home.

10 05 2010Royal Bank of Scotland sheds 2,600 more jobs. Job cuts to come from sale of insurance arm and 318 bank branches – a condition of EU's £54bn taxpayer support. A RBS spokesperson said: "We are working hard to rebuild RBS in order to repay taxpayers for their support and having to cut jobs is the most difficult part of this process.The EU is also demanding that Lloyds Banking Group, in which the taxpayer has a 41% stake, sell off 600 branches in return for almost £20bn of government support. Even so, finance unionUnite has warned that up to 25,000 jobs in the RBS and Lloyds branch networks alone are at risk because of the demands of the EU.

16 06 2010 George Osborne reveals sweeping changes to banking system.

16 07 2010 Goldman Sachs handed record $550m fine over Abacus transaction. Goldman accepted the largest fine in the commission's history and accepted that the marketing materials it issued to investors for the Abacus transaction at the heart of the regulator's case gave "incomplete information".
20 07 2010 Goldman denies links with global food crises. An advert from the World Development Movement's (WDM) online campaign which claims banks are earning huge profits from betting on food prices in unregulated financial markets. The WDM, a London-based non-governmental organisation, on Monday started an on-line campaign to persuade the public to report Goldman to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as the biggest bank allegedly distorting commodities markets. The money flowing into commodity index funds and commodity derivatives soared from $46bn in 2005 to $250bn in March 2008, according to the report.10 08 2010The Bank of England is spending £3.5m overhauling its forecasting model. The Bank's current model, BEQM (Bank of England Quarterly Model) which has been used since 2004, was exposed as flawed during the financial crisis. In August 2008, which subsequent data showed was when the recession officially began, the Bank said its "central projection was for GDP to be broadly flat for the next year or so". The following month Lehman Brothers collapsed, tipping Britain into its deepest recession since the 1930s as the economy shrank 6.6pc. BEQM's shortcoming, he said, is that it "misses the role of credit and financial conditions".

26 08 2010UK bank accounting rules 'fatally flawed', warns influential watchdog.The Government has been warnedof a “regulatory fiasco”in which British bankshave apparently adhered to flawed reporting standards for more than five years. Tom Bush writes of the IFRS accounting rules: 'The UK had the first failing bank, Northern Rock, which only the month earlier appeared to haveso much capital it applied to reduce it. IFRS merely reports the train crash rather than prevents it.'File below

31 08 2010Credit Suisse defends its bankers' mid-year bonus. Credit Suisse has defended a decision to award its London-based bankers with a surprise mid-year bonus by claiming that it had no choice after its compliance with British rules on pay backfired.File below

02 09 2010 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to cut 3,500 jobs File below
03 09 2010 New steel 5p and 10p coins a 'disaster'. Designed to save the Royal Mint between £7 million and £8 million a year but cost some £100,000,000 implementing changes to vending machines and parking meters raising prices.13 09 2010Howard Davies- The Government's mistake over London regulation.

20 09 2010 Long-term increase in US unemployment 'possible', warns OECD Ext File
27 09 2010 Savers told to stop moaning and start spending