Emerging Europe Economics Focus A grim year ahead for Emerging Europe's banks Rising default rates, a fragile funding structure and widespread currency mismatches mean that banks in Emerging Europe face a grim 2009. Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Estonia may all be forced to... 23rd January 2009 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Euro-zone lagging behind on support for banks After the UK Government’s latest announcement of additional measures to support banks, policy in the euro-zone is lagging behind again. We hope that extra support will be announced in time, but the... 22nd January 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Even this may not be enough to get banks lending The raft of further measures to support the banks is a significant step. It is clear that the Government has realised that the banking system will not start functioning properly again without more... 19th January 2009 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Are the Fed’s actions finally beginning to pay off? 19th January 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Much bolder action required to boost bank lending Faced with soaring recession-related bad debts, we doubt that banks, if left to their own devices, will start lending enough to kick-start the economy. The Government will therefore have to force them... 15th January 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Zero interest rates to squeeze bank profits This week’s Bank of England interest rates data confirmed that banks have so far taken advantage of the cuts in official interest rates to boost their profit margins by cutting savings rates more... 14th January 2009 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update China still suffering hot capital outflows Hot capital continues to flow out of China, although October’s flood has since diminished. This raises the chances of a modest renminbi depreciation against the dollar over the coming year. 13th January 2009 · 1 min read
China Economics Update China still suffering hot capital outflows Hot capital continues to flow out of China, although October’s flood has since diminished. This raises the chances of a modest renminbi depreciation against the dollar over the coming year. 13th January 2009 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Life insurers better placed than the banks Now that the Government has stepped in to bail out the UK banks, attention has shifted to which other areas of the financial sector might be in serious trouble. While the insurance sector certainly... 1st December 2008 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update King highlights bank lending risks In today’s testimony to the Treasury Committee, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) gave little indication of whether it thinks that the fiscal stimulus announced yesterday has reduced the need for... 25th November 2008 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Focus Will recession in Eastern Europe bring down banks in the West Swedish and Austrian banks look most exposed to the impending recession in parts of Emerging Europe. But lending to the region still accounts for a relatively small share of total bank assets in both... 13th November 2008 · 1 min read
US Economics Focus Further capital losses to restrict US bank lending 11th November 2008 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Mortgage interest rates heading to 3% Today’s interest rate cut, from 4.5% to 3%, marks only the early stages of a phase of aggressive monetary easing which will ultimately take base rates to an all-time low of 1%. Mortgage interest rates... 6th November 2008 · 1 min read
