New Positive Money report ‘Seeking Legitimacy’ launched in Parliament
23 October, 2019After already making breakfast headlines in Reuters, City AM and Bloomberg, Positive Money launched our latest report, ‘Seeking Legitimacy: A new settlement for the Bank of England’, to a packed out audience in Parliament on Tuesday morning. We were joined by influential figures from across Westminster, including Labour shadow Treasury minister Clive Lewis, former Liberal [...]
Extinction Rebellion Bank protest: Positive Money comment
14 October, 2019Responding to Extinction Rebellion's protest outside the Bank of England today, Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money said: “Extinction Rebellion are absolutely right to target a money and banking system which is driving climate collapse. British banks like Barclays and HSBC are the worst in Europe, lending over $85bn and $57bn respectively towards some [...]
Bank of England finally admits high house prices are determined by finance, not supply and demand
17 September, 2019The Bank of England confirms Positive Money analysis of housing affordability In a duo of fascinating blog posts this month, Bank of England researchers John Lewis and Fergus Cumming confirmed what we’ve been arguing for a long time: that houses are assets, the price of which is not determined so much by simple textbook supply [...]
Mark Carney: “There will be a change” in “unsustainable” monetary system
12 September, 2019Bank of England governor foresees monetary reform and puts forward Positive Money proposal as possible solution In August the outgoing governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, gave an interesting speech on ‘The growing challenges for monetary policy in the current international monetary and financial system’, in which he set out how the dollar [...]
MPs push Javid to publish BoE governor shortlist as public trust falls short
9 September, 2019London, 9 September 2019 - MPs have called on Sajid Javid to make the shortlist of candidates for the next Bank of England governor public, as polling today reveals that only 1 in 5 Britons trust the Chancellor to appoint the right person to head up Britain’s central bank. 28 parliamentarians from across the political [...]
Positive Money response to Bank of England Financial Stability Report
11 July, 2019Responding to the Bank of England’s latest Financial Stability Report, Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money said: “While it is great that the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee has embraced the climate stress testing recommended by the recent Future of Finance review, the Bank of England still seems to be taking a ‘wait and see’ [...]
Labour’s plans for sustainable investment: Positive Money response
24 June, 2019Responding to the news that Labour is setting up a review of the financial system which will examine how an enhanced Bank of England toolkit could tackle the financial stability threat of climate breakdown, Fran Boait, executive director of Positive Money, said: “With the shadow chancellor’s comments coming the week after the future of finance [...]
Bank of England to open up to tech companies: Positive Money response
20 June, 2019Responding to Mark Carney’s announcement that the Bank of England will consult on opening up its reserve accounts to non-bank payments providers, David Clarke, head of policy at Positive Money said: “It is right that access to the Bank of England’s infrastructure does not remain the sole privilege of traditional banks. As such opening up [...]
Facebook’s digital currency is not the solution: Positive Money comment
18 June, 2019Responding to the announcement of Libra, Facebook’s plans for a digital currency in partnership with companies including Visa and Mastercard, David Clarke, head of policy at Positive Money, said: “Facebook has rightly identified the potential for digital currencies to reinvent money and transform the global economy, so people can live better lives. However, a digital [...]