The Bank of England hikes interest rates to 4.25%

The Bank of England has yet again raised the base rate for the 11th consecutive time. 

Despite the fact that Britain's banks have promptly implemented higher interest rates for borrowers, they have not been as quick to pass on these rates to savers.

Banks are not legally obligated to pass on the base rate hike to savers, but they have been facing demands to do so following figures recently revealed they’ve earned an additional £7 billion due to the Bank of England's interest rate increase.

The Treasury committee of MPs has written to the Financial Conduct Authority, suggesting the watchdog should look into the matter.  

In response to the Bank of England increasing interest rates again today, founder and CEO of mycommunityfinance.co.uk, Tobias Gruber, said:

“Over the past year, Britain’s biggest banks have been making billions of pounds by swiftly passing on interest rate hikes to their borrowers, but unacceptably slow to pass them on to their savers. 

“Starting in April, the government has confirmed they will reduce the surcharge on bank profits, therefore banks will have no excuses for continuing the unfair practice of taking so long to pass on interest rate hikes to savers. If banks do not start behaving more conscientiously, the Financial Conduct Authority should absolutely intervene and force their hand”.

About Tobias Gruber

Tobias Gruber is the founder and CEO of My Community Finance. For the past 30 years, he's been a prominent leader in investment banking and asset management for some of the sector's most renowned banks, including Credit Suisse, SwissBank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. 
 
Fast forward to 2018, Tobias launched My Community Finance to provide a platform for the financially excluded, helping people to get back on their feet with ethical and socially responsible lending. Within 36 months, My Community Finance has become accountable for 25% of borrowing within the credit union sector. 
 
Tobias has experienced first-hand how certain areas of the finance world are ripe for change and is a passionate advocate for using fintech to help people and solve society's economic problems. 

About My Community Finance

My Community Finance is on a mission to transform how its customers manage their money by giving them access to ethical alternatives through two of the U.K.'s biggest credit unions: My Community Bank and Castle Community Bank.

Credit unions give a lifeline to customers who struggle to access mainstream credit by introducing them to financial communities that don't prioritise profits and whose unique regulatory structure means they can offer fairer rates. 

Based in London and launched in 2018, My Community Finance is fully authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is a trading name of Amplifi Capital (U.K.) Limited, which has offered ethical and responsible financial products to near-prime consumers since 2015.