Will the Bank of England cut rates below zero?

• Economic indicators have turned down ahead of next Thursday’s UK interest rate decision
• Internet searches for “negative interest rates” are at a peak
• Negative interest rates – winners and losers
• The magic money tree is alive, well, and within reach

“The summer boom has faded since the Bank of England last met and the resurgent second wave of the pandemic has dented the economic outlook. We may get another dose of QE but the Bank is unlikely to rock the boat by imposing negative interest rates just yet given the state of flux in the pandemic and the economy.

“However they are clearly warming markets up for the possibility, having written to banks to check they can handle rates going below zero. Somewhat counterintuitively, they are likely to wait until economic conditions have improved a little because if banks are worried about loan losses mounting up at the same time their interest income is cut they may just curtail lending. That would be counterproductive from the central bank’s point of view.

“Experience of negative rates in other countries suggests that even if rates turn negative, most banks wouldn’t charge high street customers to hold money in their accounts, mainly because you can always take cash out of the bank and stuff it in a mattress. Those with higher balances would be most at risk because a bank account provides security that is hard to replicate without financial cost. While savers might not explicitly pay interest to their bank, it’s possible banks would introduce fees instead, something HSBC said it’s looking at in some markets.

“Savers have stuck away £88 billion so far into cash this year, as those who have been lucky enough to maintain their jobs and income have found their spending options cut down by COVID restrictions. Much of that money is losing value in real terms and will continue to do so if the Bank is successful in bringing inflation up towards 2%. They should be helped in this endeavour by the big fall in the oil price dropping out of the inflationary equation from next March.

“Looser monetary policy will be broadly good for equities, and for the growth stocks that have led the market for the last ten years. Corporate borrowing will be even cheaper and while pension deficits may rise, these only have an effect on cashflows through a valuation process that takes place every three years.

“We can expect bond prices to nudge up too but that means yields will fall further, another blow to anyone relying on fixed interest securities for income. It will be good for the government however as it will lower its borrowing costs further.

“Indeed on the gilts held by the Quantitative Easing programme, the government effectively pays bank base rate on that borrowing. To date that has resulted in a £99 billion windfall for the Exchequer.

“If base rate falls to zero, this could mean the government paying no interest rates on the gilts held by the QE programme. That’s right- free money! If base rate goes negative, the central bank may take steps to limit payments back to the Treasury at the zero bound. But we’re so far through the looking glass when it comes to monetary policy, we could end up in a position where Treasury is actually making money from the gilts held as part of the QE programme.

Indeed, the UK government is already paying negative interest rates on some of its debt – earlier this year it auctioned £3.8 billion of borrowing on which buyers agreed to pay the government 0.003% for the privilege of lending money to HM Treasury.”

Economic indicators