Simon Youel
Why ‘Britcoin’ shouldn’t mean the end of cash
28 July, 2021July 28, 2021 The government and the Bank of England are working together on developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the UK. There are concerns that this new ‘Britcoin’ would replace cash, but the real war on cash is being waged by big banks and card companies. Over the weekend the Daily Mail [...]
Could a digital pound mean the end of banking as we know it?
12 July, 2021Mon 12th July 2021 With everything which has been going on in the world recently, from a terrifying heat dome emerging in North America to England making it to their first Euros final, it can be forgiven that speeches from key economic figures exploring the potential end of the monetary system as we currently know [...]
The big flaw with the Bank of England’s approach to going green
25 June, 2021June 25, 2021 After years of justifying its support for some of the world’s most environmentally destructive companies under the principles of ‘market neutrality’, it’s great that the Bank of England is now taking action to ‘green’ its corporate bond purchase scheme (CBPS). But currently, our central bank’s approach is unlikely to be enough to [...]
Bank of England CBDC discussion paper: Positive Money response
8 June, 2021London, 7 June 2021 - Non-profit research and campaign group Positive Money has welcomed the Bank of England’s publication of a discussion paper on central bank digital currency (CBDC) this morning. Simon Youel, head of policy & advocacy at Positive Money, said: “With the decline of cash and emergence of private digital currencies, we urgently [...]
Banking for People: Lessons from the UK’s Girobank
27 May, 2021May 27, 2021 In the comments of a recent Positive Money blogpost on central bank digital currency (CBDC), Stephen Hart raised an interesting question: “A public company to provide accounts direct to ordinary people, run by the Post Office - do you remember the Girobank? That was its exact description, when it was set up [...]
Positive Money response to Central Bank Digital Currency Taskforce
19 April, 2021London, 19 April 2021 - Responding to the government’s announcement of a new Central Bank Digital Currency Taskforce this morning, Simon Youel, head of policy and advocacy at Positive Money said: “With the decline of cash and rise of private digital currencies like Facebook’s Diem, the future of money risks being surrendered to unaccountable global [...]
Sunak gives Bank of England green light to fight climate crisis
3 March, 2021London, 3 March 2021 - Rishi Sunak has today made a highly anticipated and important change to the Bank of England’s mandate, for the first time instructing the UK’s central bank to align its powerful monetary policy toolkit with the government’s net zero target. In his Budget speech, Sunak announced a new mandate for the [...]
QE or not to QE? Soaring inequality shows it’s time for a new macroeconomic approach
11 February, 2021February 11, 2021 If you just looked at property and financial markets, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we weren’t in the midst of a global pandemic which has left millions unemployed and large swathes of the economy locked down. UK house prices reached record highs in 2020, averaging more than £250,000 across the [...]
Concrete action needed to boost productive investment: Positive Money response to new productive investment working group
20 November, 2020London, 20 November 2020 - The Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority will be convening an industry working group to facilitate investment in productive finance. Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money, welcomed the announcement today but called for concrete action to guide investment towards the productive sustainable investment the real [...]