Big banks are profiteering and should be investigated for failing to pass on full interest rate rises to savers, despite doing so for mortgage customers, MPs said.
The Bank of England increased its base rate — upon which savings accounts and mortgages are based — from 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent on Thursday, its ninth rise since December last year when it was at a record low of 0.1 per cent.
The change will almost immediately affect about 1.7 million people whose mortgages are linked to the base rate. Savers, however, may have to wait weeks or months to benefit, or may even see no change at all.
The growing margin between the interest that savers receive and borrowers pay has boosted the income of the big five banks — Barclays, Santander, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest — by about £4.4 billion in the last three months of this year, compared with the same time last year, according to the wealth manager AJ Bell.
Yes, of course. Banking margins have been artificially compressed by low interest rates – few are willing to accept negative interest on their deposits – for the past decade and a half.
As we sort ourselves out, try to return to positive real interest rates – something necessary for society as a whole – then those margins will uncompress. Good.
So why are the tossers complaining?
“Banking margins have been artificially compressed by low interest rates”
Don’t all the big banks have trading desks that boasted record profits during the low interest rate period?
No.
“Barclays said its investment bank delivered its strongest ever profit of 5.8 billion pounds, thanks to a 34% increase in fees from advising on deals such as mergers and fundraising, offsetting a 16% decline in markets income.”
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/barclays-annual-profit-more-than-doubles-bad-loans-ebb-2022-02-23/#:~:text=Barclays%20said%20its%20investment%20bank%20delivered%20its%20strongest,fundraising%2C%20offsetting%20a%2016%25%20decline%20in%20markets%20income.
Is that the first search result for you, too?
“LONDON — Barclays on Wednesday reported a full-year net profit of £6.38 billion ($8.67 billion) for 2021, ahead of analyst expectations of £5.75 billion, as its corporate and investment banking division boomed.”
You said “all”. Barclays has a large capital markets arm. Lloyds, as one example, does not.
Gosh! Big numbers!! They must be doing really well by exploiting poor people!!!
What’s that? Barclays share price has fallen by more than 13% over the last 12 months?
Oh!
I thought retail and investment banking were separated now? Or is that one of those regulations that got quietly dropped?
“So why are the tossers complaining?” Incentives, deah boy.
‘ So why are the tossers complaining?’
As usual nil understanding of market economic or how businesses work, and an assumption that businesses should operate as charities.
The tossers are complaining because they are propagandists for a neo-Marxist state with themselves as part of the nomenklatura.
You mean “why are they complaining about this?” and the answer is “because the economics take more than a single soundbite to explain, so they can fool some of the people before Tim explains it.”
Lloyds Bank shares are selling at a discount of approaching 20% to the net tangible assets (excluding Goodwill etc) because banking earns such a low return on capital while real inteest rates are negative.