The Bankers' Week… Stop Press

2.00 pm Thursday, 8th December:

The Bank of England resisted all pressures, on rates and quantitative easing today, maintaining its rate for borrowing at 0.5 per cent and leaving additional QE to the New Year, if at all.

Meanwhile the European Central Bank had what its President Mario Draghi said “..was a lively discussion. Though one shouldn’t overplay the word ‘lively’. We are central bank governors after all.” The result was to lower the ECB’s lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.0 percent and to introduce some long term loan facilities for Europe’s hard pressed banks.