Bob Lyddon

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has gone from hero-to-zero in 48 hours. From established bankers to start-ups in the tech, fintech, and biotech industries and to Napa Valley’s premium wineries on…

Introduction – Recent ECB Policy Developments Croatia became the 20th Eurozone member on January 1. Regular readers know our often expressed view that the euro is a deeply flawed currency…

Cost, inconvenience and fraud have been increased for consumer and business users on their ‘digital payments journey’.1 Current plans for the introduction into the UK of a Central Bank Digital…

Up until recently, the proponents of the cluster of financial developments around the Great Re-Set, Decentralized Finance, Central Bank Digital Currency, Financial Inclusion, Fintech, Open Banking et al have had…

‘Liability Driven Investment’ or ‘LDI’ is both a nonsense and a truism, and is now a byword for a disaster in the UK financial system. Here is what happened. As…

Towards the end of August, every year investors focus on the Jackson Hole conference of the central banking global elite. Given widespread acceptance among central bankers that non-temporary inflation is…

This article analyses the disparity between the substance of what was announced and the language put around it by the ECB, mainly in the press release on its Monetary Policy…

When the history of the euro currency’s rise and decline in popularity is written, the month of June 2022 will be viewed as decisive. In June, the ECB committed to…

The European Central Bank (ECB) held its latest Governing Council meeting on 14 April 2022 and issued its normal press release. It also included a facile graphic titled ‘Our monetary…

The EU recently announced partial financial sanctions on Russia, designed to keep payments for energy moving. The EU accepted the contention – disproved below – that a bank either gets…