Before Bank Underground goes off on its Christmas holidays, it’s time for the Annual Bank Underground Christmas Quiz! We hope you enjoy testing your knowledge on our festive themed questions on economics, finance and all things central banking… If you want to get in touch, please email us at bankunderground@bankofengland.co.uk or leave a comment below. Comments will only … Continue reading The Bank Underground Christmas Quiz 2024
Financial Stability
Nicolò Bandera and Jacob Stevens How should the central bank conduct asset purchases to restore market functioning without causing higher inflation? The Bank of England was faced with this question during the 2022 gilt crisis, when it undertook gilt purchases on financial stability grounds while inflation was above 10%. These financial stability asset purchases could … Continue reading Stable gilts and stable prices: assessing the Bank of England’s response to the LDI crisis
Jenny Clark and Theresa Löber The UK’s climate continues to change, getting wetter and warmer, with extremes becoming ever more pronounced. Even if we limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, experts warn that we’ll see the number and severity of extreme weather events increase further. Without adaptation, we will see more property, infrastructure … Continue reading Adaptation is to mitigation what Robin is to Batman
Bowen Xiao Zero-day options have exploded in popularity in recent years, accounting for approximately half of S&P 500’s total options volume, a ten-fold increase from just 5% in 2016. Their flexibility, low premia and underlying leverage appeal to all market participants ranging from conservative investors hedging against intraday market volatility to aggressive traders speculating for … Continue reading Zero-day options and financial market vulnerability
Rebecca Mari and Matteo Ficarra. Floods are the most costly natural disaster in Europe. In the UK, they account for around GBP1.4 billion in annual losses. Yet, evidence on the macroeconomic implications is inconclusive. GDP often shows a puzzling delayed response, and prices can be pushed in opposite directions. Using a novel county level data … Continue reading Weathering the storm: the economic impact of floods and the role of adaptation
Boromeus Wanengkirtyo, Francesca Diluiso, Rebecca Mari, Jenny Chan, Ambrogio Cesa-Bianchi and Alex Haberis. Climate change is becoming increasingly important for monetary policy as the world transitions into greener economies and climate change’s physical impacts become more prominent. This is complementary, but distinct to, examining how climate change affects financial stability risks (Carney (2015)). This series … Continue reading Climate and monetary policy series
James Waddell and Meghna Shrestha An increasing number of households in the UK are opting for longer-term mortgages, with the share of borrowers taking out new mortgages with terms 30 years or longer tripling since 2005. But who are these households, why have they done so, and what could this imply for financial stability? This … Continue reading 30+ year mortgages – are these the new norm? What does this mean for financial stability?
Gabija Zemaityte The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, among others, has argued that long-term fixed-rate mortgages (LTFRMs) could increase home ownership in the UK. The share of mortgages with longer fixes increased in the UK and internationally over the last decade. Persistently low interest rates over that period have supported demand for longer-fix products, … Continue reading Long-term fixed-rate mortgages through an international lens: could they lead to higher home ownership?
Ioana Neamțu, Umang Khetan, Jian Li and Ishita Sen What do the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse and the 2022 UK pension fund crisis have in common? Interest rate risk. Several sectors in the economy run significant asset-liability mismatch that makes them vulnerable to rapid interest rate changes: pension funds and insurers have short-term cash … Continue reading Sharing interest rate risk: who is trading and what affects the costs?
Neha Bora, Sarah Burkinshaw, Alice Crundwell and Tuli Saha Private equity (PE) has rapidly become an important source of financing for UK businesses. Funds use pools of capital, largely from institutional investors, to primarily invest in non-publicly traded companies. We shed light on this growing sector with a new and novel data set of around … Continue reading Shining a light on private equity backed corporates in four findings