Banking and interest rates

Finances and interest rates

Detailed figures on banks’ finances and assets, as well as the interest rates they offer, are published by the Bank of England bankstats series.

This lists the Bank of England’s Official Bank Rate since its creation in 1694. Information on changes to interest rates and money printing (quantitative easing) is available from the same place.

Forecasts on how banking finances and interest rates will change over the coming years are produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility, while HM Treasury compiles the forecasts of banks and academics.

Lending to business and individuals

Banks and financial institutions lend money to business and individuals for all sorts of reasons, whether for property purchases, mortgages, or as general credit to fund investment.

The Bank of England Trends measures how much financial institutions are lending in the UK economy. It looks at the effective interest rates people pay for different kinds of loans as well as how much banks are lending to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Mortgage lending figures are published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. These are based on data provided by banks, building societies and other lenders who make up the vast majority of all mortgage lending in the UK.

Figures for lending by high street banks are compiled by the British Banking Association, which is the UK’s trade association for the banking and financial services sector. These figures apply only to members of the BBA.

Bankers’ bonuses

There isn’t any one measure for bankers’ bonuses, but figures for bonuses and which sectors and industries of the economy pay most of them are regularly available from the Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey compiled by the Office for National Statistics.

The closest breakdowns for ‘bankers’ bonuses from the ONS’s survey are for the ‘finance and business services’ sector and the ‘financial and insurance activities’ industry.