- Central bank says inflation will peak above 3%, but says rise will prove temporary and warns against ‘premature tightening’
- Policymakers vote 8-1 to keep bond purchases unchanged
- German and French business confidence improve markedly
Chief executives from the UK’s largest insurers have joined forces with the Prince of Wales to launch a new sector-wide taskforce aimed at tackling the climate crisis, writes our banking correspondent Kalyeena Makortoff.
The Sustainable Market Initiative Insurance Taskforce – comprised of bosses from 17 firms including Legal & General, Allianz, Hiscox and Axa – has pledged to support the transition to a less carbon-intensive economy by expanding insurance coverage for projects such as offshore windfarms, and partnering with governments to provide better disaster protection cover in countries facing serious risks like extreme weather caused by global heating.
Related: Top insurers join Prince Charles to fight climate crisis
The Bank’s June meeting showed a measured response to stronger data, says Allan Monks, economist at JPMorgan. He says about the Bank’s warning against “premature tightening”:
We read this as a signal that the BoE is not yet prepared to vindicate market pricing which has recently seen expectations for the first hike creep into the first half of 2022.
While the MPC viewed the coming inflation overshoot as transitory, it did shift the dial in a more hawkish direction and indicated that forecast upgrades would be made in August.
