UK banks given six months to prepare for negative interest rates

Can anyone counter my impression that we are witnessing in the Western world the exact same course of events that happened in Japan in the 1990s? (low growth, high debt, ageing population, low interest rates, rising of average P&#x2F;E ratios).<p>Am I wrong to expect that corporate valuations in Europe and the U.S. will not appreciate in the coming decades as they have in past decades?<p>Edit: Yes, the U.S. and Europe are indeed in different economic positions, the U.S. can still avoid the spiral if it continues to attract skilled immigration and remains a low bureaucracy, easy-to do business environment.

If chartered banks charge for ... holding cash ... don&#x27;t people next create a new industry of unchartered financial institutions to hold money without charging so much? Like, safe deposit? Or insurance?<p>This seems like an ivory tower exercise that has not yet met the messy realities of the world.

I am honestly unimpressed with the general strategy of central banks to imbalance an economy by only putting inflationary pressure on the supply side. You have to work on both the supply side and the demand side. Doing an excessive amount of supply side stimulus does not reduce the need for demand side stimulus.<p>This is especially important in an economy where a pandemic has forcefully lowered demand for products and thus potential income for workers. American style stimulus checks are a far better idea, especially when they go to people who truly need them.<p>The UK pretty much hit its 2% inflation target back in 2019. There is an obvious slump because of the combination of Brexit and the pandemic at the same time but low interest rates alone are not going to save the UK.

I wonder if there&#x27;s an analysis of negative interest rates available across different economies.

Can someone explain this, Matt Levine-style? I mean, if someone offered to pay <i>me</i> interest to take out a loan, I&#x27;d immediately request MAXINT.

So if I take a loan, it would pay itself off after a while?

Covid plus brexit is a pretty massive recession for us to eat. The current administration is in power for another 3 years minimum and they really have no clue what they&#x27;re doing so...

Invest in safe-making companies.

Its about time it became normal in the UK for accounts to carry fees. I dont know how retail banking can continue without them. Esp the new fintechs they will have near-zero revenue coming in and have to pay to hold cash.