BoE's Fisher sees scope for more QE after rise in Gilt yields

12th Jun 2013 11:09

In remarks to The Times the Bank of England's Executive Director for Markets, Paul Fisher, attributed the spike seen in Gilt yields over the last few weeks solely to events on the international scene, rather than UK-specific factors.Importantly, Mr. Fisher, who is a voting member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said that the increase may give the Bank extra room to do more quantitative easing. "If gilt yields were being depressed not just by what we were doing but by what was happening overseas, and that part of it comes out, there is a bit more room for us to try to influence gilt yields through QE," he said.As regards the potential privatisation of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), he believes it should proceed as quickly as possible instead of waiting for the price to recover. In his opinion that may require a two-year programme. Neither does he seem to share Sir Mervyn's 'personal view' that it ought to be separated into a 'good' bank and a 'bad' bank. Lastly, the banker struck a positive note on the eventual success of the Bank's Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). A return to positive net business lending over the course of the year was possible, but Mr Fisher added that he did not want to "bet the ranch on it".AB