One of our supporters Simon Davies has recently  received a response from the Treasury to a letter he sent to George Osborne back in March. Below you can read the response from the Treasury (their standard ‘carbon copy’ response letter we’ve seen many times already). Simon has responded to some of the points made by them in blue text. We invite you to write your comments below. Original letter by Simon Davies: Dear Mr Osborne, I am very concerned that we are … Continue reading →

“Bank runs are a common feature of the extreme crises that have played a prominent role in monetary history. During a bank run, depositors rush to withdraw their deposits because they expect the bank to fail. In fact, the sudden withdrawals can force the bank to liquidate many of its assets at a loss and to fail. During a panic with many bank failures, there is a disruption of the monetary system and a reduction in production.” (Diamond & Dybvig, … Continue reading →

It seems that dishing out free money is a cure for some ill’s and not for others, or for some patients and not others. While the rest of the economy languishes, the financial markets have seen growth, so how can this be? With the vast amount of QE money going into the capital markets via banks there can be little doubt as to why the financial sectors health has improved. The aim of QE was to get the banking sector … Continue reading →

In the May 21st edition of London’s Evening Standard  its financial editor Anthony Hilton laid into the Basel regulatory endorsement of “mark-to-model” risk assessment, citing a speech delivered to the Atlanta Fed by the Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane last month. Hilton reported that: “In the course of recent research, Haldane has come to some devastating conclusions. First, allowing banks to use their own models to assess the riskiness of their lending — a central plan of the Basel accords … Continue reading →

The fourth short film from the Transforming Finance conference is now on the Guardian: What would a democratic financial system look like?