Today Chancellor Jeremy Hunt presented his Spring Budget to parliament and missed a huge opportunity.  After 12 years of deep public sector cuts and pay freezes, which resulted in strikes in hospitals and classrooms up and down the country, Hunt ignored an easy win to bring in billions of pounds of additional public sector […] The post Hunt’s huge missed opportunity to #TaxTheBanks appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

London, Wednesday 15th March 2023 Responding to the Chancellor’s Spring Budget, Fran Boait, executive director at Positive Money, commented:  “This Budget marks another missed opportunity to redistribute the burden of higher costs onto those with the broadest shoulders. Rather than properly taxing windfall profits, the Chancellor has chosen to continue saddling workers with suppressed wages […] The post Hunt missed opportunity for windfall tax on bank profits appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

London, 13th March 2023 On the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Simon Youel, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Positive Money, commented: “The fact that firms’ ability to make payroll is dependent on the solvency of banks like SVB illustrates one of the biggest problems that a public digital pound would solve. “Alongside physical […] The post SVB collapse makes case for digital pound & Bank of England climate and capital report appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

Now is a good time to assess the future of financial regulation and financial services in the UK. It is three years since the UK left the European Union. Since then, the government and regulators have been considering how to regulate UK financial markets and services. The huge Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB) is […] The post A fork in the road: which direction for financial services and regulation in the UK? appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

New data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has estimated that the value of our homes continued to boom during the second year of the pandemic. But despite this increase, COVID-19 still saw people fall into fuel poverty, homelessness and poor quality homes. We take a look at who gains when the price of […] The post The housing wealth trap appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

“I want them to tell me why. I want them to admit publicly because I’m not in their club. I want them to say the very people who’ve just lost £500 billion quid are the only people entitled to look after our money.” – Dave Fishwick, Bank of Dave Warning: Please proceed with caution *spoilers […] The post How Netflix-hit Bank of Dave shows banks could work for people and community, not profit appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

London, Wednesday 22nd February 2023 Lloyds Bank has today announced that its pre-tax profits for 2022 were £6.9 billion, and that it has increased its bonus pool by 12% to £446 million – the largest it has been in four years.  The results follow news that NatWest, Barclays and HSBC made a collective £26.6 billion […] The post Positive Money response to Lloyds Bank profits appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

London, Friday 17th February 2023 NatWest has today announced that its profits for 2022 were £5.1 billion.  The results are accompanied by news that NatWest has raised its bonus pool for employees to £367 million, following the government’s removal of the cap on bankers’ bonuses late last year.    This, coupled with the source of these […] The post NatWest 2022 profits – Positive Money response appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

London, Wednesday 15th February 2023 Barclays has today announced that its profits for 2022 were £7bn.  Barclays’ results come as Positive Money launches a campaign calling for a windfall tax on banks’ excess profits. Fran Boait, executive director at Positive Money, commented:  “Let’s be clear: these profits were taken directly from the pockets of struggling […] The post Barclays 2022 profits – Positive Money response appeared first on Positive Money ..read more

The Bank of England has raised interest rates for the tenth time in a row. The Monetary Policy Committee voted to raise rates by 0.5% to a 15-year high of 4%. Fran Boait, executive director at Positive Money, commented:  “Raising interest rates today was the wrong decision. Higher rates have already exacerbated the cost of […] The post Interest rate decision – Positive Money response appeared first on Positive Money ..read more