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Friday 20th December 2019

Get straight to the good stuff every day with the Multiply Minute; a lightning-quick round-up of the money news and how it affects you.

All right guv’ner?

There’s a new governor of the Bank of England: Andrew Bailey has been named as the person to take over from Mark Carney in March. Bailey is currently the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the finance watchdog. As overseer of the UK’s central bank, which keeps an eye on the overall state of the economy and manages the stability of the financial system, he’s going to have a big job on his hands.

FCA investigates Bank breach

That same Bank of England is under investigation by the very same FCA for a security breach revealed yesterday. Awkward. The breach meant some hedge funds got access to an audio feed of the Bank’s press conferences (containing vital information that affect financial markets) up to eight seconds before the rest of the world. The FCA is looking into whether or not the illicit sneak previews count as “inside information”, and whether the investment managers involved should face personal regulatory action.

Delays on the runway

The expansion of Heathrow will be delayed by up to three years (paywall article) because of worries that spiralling costs would land passengers with soaring fares. The Civil Aviation Authority said there was a risk that rising planning costs - from £650 million to £2.8 billion - would be passed on to consumers. The watchdog wants the spending to be limited to £1.6 billion, which will result in the planned 2026 launch being held until 2029.

Monzo savings vanish

Monzo customers endured a moment of panic (paywall article) yesterday when their savings “pots” appeared to vanish from the app. No money went missing; it was just a bug which has reportedly now been fixed. Phew.

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