Just a little recession … Bailey sticks head in the sand on economic data
The London business newspaper CITY AM reports on the reaction to the UK recession by Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey. The paper claims Bailey has stuck his head in the sand over the recession news, and reports on the reaction from MPs and economists.
Elsewhere, Barclay’s plan to return £10bn to shareholders over the next three years amid a radical restructuring of the bank.
There’s a story on the woes of football icons FC Barcelona also on the front splash.
‘Bank of England MPC members: ‘Weak recession’ won’t change timing of interest rate cuts’
A “weak recession” will not prompt the Bank of England to start cutting interest rates in the next couple of months, members of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) suggested today.
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank, came under fire from MPs on the Treasury Committee for having failed to cut interest rates even as inflation approaches target and the UK struggles with very weak growth.
Figures out last week confirmed that the UK fell into a recession at the end of last year. Bailey, however, said the recession, which amounted to a 0.5 per cent reduction in output, was “very weak”.
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‘Barclays unveils plan to return £10bn to shareholders and cut £2bn in costs by 2026’
Barclays has unveiled a drop in annual profits as the bank undergoes a sweeping restructuring designed to save £2bn in costs and return £10bn to shareholders by 2026.
It revealed on Tuesday that it would revise its corporate structure to comprise five new divisions, including retail banking, wealth management and investment banking.
The FTSE 100 bank is aiming to reduce costs by around £2bn by 2026. It plans to achieve a cost to income ratio of 63 per cent for 2024, down four per cent from last year, with plans for this figure to be in the “high 50s” by 2026.
Just days after high street rival Natwest posted its biggest annual profit since 2007, the fellow Big Four lender reported a pretax profit of £6.6bn for 2023, down from £7bn in 2022. This figure slightly undershot analysts’ estimates of £6.7bn for Barclays.
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‘Inglorious Barca: Identity crisis engulfing Barcelona’s Champions League last chance’
It is rarely a quiet week at FC Barcelona, and in the last few days, ahead of a crucial Champions League match, tensions have heightened as their unique identity – or, more specifically, their club “direction” – has come into sharper focus.
Their trip to Italy for a last 16 tie against Napoli on Wednesday comes amid the fallout from comments made by their sporting director and former midfielder Deco in an interview with Portuguese magazine Nascer do Sol.
The Brazilian-born executive was speaking about Barcelona’s manager hunt after Xavi Hernandez had announced his decision to leave the club at the end of the season, leaving the club facing an uncertain future.
Deco said that “deep change” was required, that the current method had been “exhausted”, and that the club needed to “find someone who will break away from the past”.
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