USA Banks News

As the Bank of England today decides to introduce a further £50bn into its programme of quantitative easing (QE), it’s hard to see why it should be any more successful than the eye-watering £275bn it has already created, which has failed to reach small businesses or create jobs. Yet things could have been very different.

In 2009, the Bank of England explained that QE aims at “putting more money into our economy to boost spending”, while relying on the banking system to put the money to work. It said: “Banks end up with more reserves as well as the money deposited with them. Increased reserves mean banks can increase their lending to households and businesses, making it easier to finance spending.”

But banks are not increasing their lending. So-called M4 Lending (the Bank’s broadest measure of lending to the private sector) contracted by between 3% and 4% on a year-on-year basis in the last quarter of 2011 – the worst performance on record. Ban

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SmartyPig, the online social banking site, has a prepaid MasterCard that’s different from almost all other prepaid cards on the market: There aren’t many fees, plus you can earn generous cash-back rewards for using the card at participating retailers.

With the SmartyPig Cash Rewards Prepaid MasterCard, you earn up to 10% when you use the card to make purchases at more than 9,000 participating retailers across the country.

Here’s a look at the details of this prepaid debit card:

Card purchase fee $4.95 Monthly fee None Domestic ATM withdrawal fees $1.50 per transaction for withdrawals, 50 cents for balance inquiries. Rewards Up to 10% cash back at more than 9,000 participating retailers. Other features Free direct deposit; FDIC insured. Read more…

The Ritz-Carlton Rewards program is offering up to 2 free nights for stays through April 15, 2012.

Earn up to 2 complimentary nights at participating Ritz-Carlton destinations when you register by March 1st and stay by April 15th.

To qualify, register for this Ritz-Carlton Rewards Bonus Nights Offer or enroll in The Ritz-Carlton Rewards program by March 1, 2012.

You’ll receive 1 free night when you complete 2 stays with The Ritz-Carlton between February 1st and April 15, 2012.

You will receive a second free night after you make 2 additional stays within the same dates.

Ritz-Carlton Rewards Promotional Terms and Conditions

Registration is required.

You will earn 1 certificate for a complimentary night at a Tier 1 to Tier 3 hotel after the completion of 2 paid stays, for up to a maximum of 2 complimentary night certificates.

Your complimentary night award will be added to your account within 3 to 5 business days after the second qualifying stay.

Certificates will expire 1 year from the date of issuance.

A stay is defined as consecutive nights spent at the same hotel, regardless of check-in/check-out activity.

Only 1 room per hotel per stay is counted toward earning for this promotion.

This promotion excludes The Ritz-Carlton Millennia Singapore, The Ritz-Carlton Montreal, Phulay Bay a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, The Ritz-Carlton Residences, and Partner Hotels.

Members of The Ritz-Carlton Rewards program as of January 13, 2012, and new members who were not previously members of the Marriott Rewards program are eligible to receive this offer.

This offer cannot be combined with any other offer.

You may also be interested in these Hotel Booking Discounts for more savings on your next hotel room.

Earn 2 free nights with Ritz-Carlton Rewards.

POUND
Sterling is hovering near a two week high against the US currency this morning and is trading back into 1.20 against the Euro. The pound is very sensitive at the moment to speculation of further QE happening in February and developments with the Greek Private Sector Initiative (PSI) talks. Today is a quiet one for UK economic data but this may well be the calm before the storm with Public sector borrowing figures due tomorrow morning, Mervyn King speaking in the evening, MPC minutes and preliminary (GDP) growth figures due for the last quarter of 2011 on Wednesday. There is also a raft of other data but the GDP number is particularly important as many expect it to show the UK economy contracted at the end of last year, providing further support for QE and forecasts that the economy is dipping back into a recession.

EURO
The Euro is trading relatively flat against the pound but has made further gains against a weaker USD, now trading comfortably into 1.29.

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A funny thing happened in the bond markets last week, although it mostly stayed under the public radar. While attention was (understandably) focused on the downgrades of France, Austria and other EU nations, a few days earlier investors were actually paying to lend the British government money. That’s right: the Treasury auctioned £700m of bonds last Tuesday and sold them at an inflation-adjusted interest rate of -0.116%. The UK is being paid to take cash off the hands of fund managers and bankers.

David Cameron and George Osborne regularly wheel out low borrowing costs as proof that the coalition has pulled off its primary task: of reassuring financiers that Britain is a safe haven. While governments in Rome or Madrid are paying sky-high sums just to conduct their regular business, and the folk at Standard & Poor’s are sucking their teeth over the prospects for Paris, London can still raise cash at super-cheap interest rates.

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