Bank rate meaning

STOP PRESS The Loan Market Association (LMA) has released refreshed editions of the standard terms and conditions for Par and Distressed Trade Transactions, the complete set of Funded Participation and Risk Participation Agreements, and the Secondary Debt Trading Documentation User Guide, with effect from 17 March 2026. The changes remove LIBOR references, update IBOR rate definitions and the Target2 definition, and revise ERISA representations to incorporate additional exemptions to the prohibited transaction rules under ERISA and the US Internal Revenue Code. The revised documentation is available exclusively to LMA members, accessible via the LMA’s Documentation Hub. These publications are updated versions issued by the LMA. Summary A core principle of trading under the LMA protocol is that ‘Trade is a Trade’; i.e. once a trade is struck—including an oral contract agreed by telephone—it is binding, and subsequent developments, even if adverse to one or both parties, do not entitle either party to cancel or ‘break’ the trade. By way of example, a failure to secure consent for...

STOP PRESS: The Loan Market Association (LMA) has issued refreshed versions of the standard terms and conditions for Par and Distressed Trade Transactions, the complete suite of Funded Participation and Risk Participation Agreements, and the Secondary Debt Trading Documentation User Guide, all coming into force on 17 March 2026. Changes comprise the deletion of LIBOR references, updates to IBOR rate definitions and the Target2 definition, plus revised ERISA representations that fold in further exemptions to the prohibited transaction rules under ERISA and the US Internal Revenue Code. The new materials are accessible solely to LMA members via the LMA’s Documentation Hub. Summary A core principle of trading under the LMA protocol is that ‘a Trade is a Trade’: once a trade is concluded (which may include an oral agreement reached by telephone), it is binding, and later events that may disadvantage one or both parties do not permit either side to rescind or ‘break’ it. For instance, not securing consent for an assignment or novation of the...

The EU’s General Court held that the European Commission’s updated cartel penalty on HSBC was not out of time, as the bloc’s competition watchdog had filed an appeal that paused the limitation period. In December 2016, the Commission imposed a €33.6m fine on HSBC after concluding it had joined a cartel to influence a benchmark interest rate. The authority stated that several banks (including Crédit Agricole and JPMorgan Chase & Co) shared commercially sensitive data in breach of antitrust rules, following a five-year probe into aspects of the European Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor. In September 2019, the General Court set aside HSBC’s fine because the Commission’s reasoning was insufficient, and the Commission appealed that judgment to the General Court. The Commission later recalculated the penalty to €31.7m in June 2021 and the following month (July 2021) withdrew its appeal. HSBC contested the revised sanction, arguing the time limit for issuing the penalty had not been suspended by the Commission’s appeal. The bank contended that the Commission had initially planned...

In this issue: Key PI and Clinical negligence developments Civil procedure rule committee minutes Psychiatric and occupational stress Injuries caused by animals Claims involving a child Claims involving a fatality Costs and funding Other PI and Clinical negligence news LexTalk® PI & Clinical Negligence: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts LexisNexis® Webinars Useful information Key PI and Clinical negligence developments MoJ announces reduction in CFO’s interest rates The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed reduced interest rates for the Courts Funds Office (CFO) special and basic accounts. The special account rate moves from 4.75% to 4.50%, while the basic account rate shifts from 3.56% to 3.38%. Effective from 3 March 2025, the revision follows the Bank of England’s base rate cut on 6 February 2025 and is intended to ensure the CFO Service can continue to cover operational costs. See: LNB News 04/03/2025 38...

In this issue: Payment Building safety Scots law Consultants on construction projects Guarantees Construction industry news Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Construction trackers Payment Late payments—Tackling poor payment practices—government response Tim Wright, Partner in technology, outsourcing and commercial at Fladgate LLP, reviews the government’s reply to the late payment consultation ‘Time to Pay Up’, issued on 24 March 2026, setting out the most far‑reaching measures to deal with overdue payments in more than a quarter of a century. Government figures suggest overdue invoices drain £11bn annually from the UK economy and push 38 firms out of business each day. The reform bundle would grant the Small Business Commissioner (SBC) stronger authority to probe, determine and penalise firms; impose a hard ceiling of 60 days on payment terms; mandate statutory interest at 8% over the Bank of England base rate; fix a legal cut‑off for challenging invoices; and float a prohibition...

This Practice Note sets out the particular rules governing VAT on costs that fall to be the subject of either summary or detailed assessment before the High Court. The applicable provisions are contained in CPR PD 44. Entitlement to This is addressed at CPR PD 44, para 2.3 through to CPR PD 44, para 2.6. The party seeking recovery of costs bears responsibility for ensuring that VAT is claimed only if, and only to the extent that, it cannot recover from HMRC the VAT it has incurred (CPR PD 44, para 2.4). if the VAT is recoverable from HMRC, it should not be included in a claim for costs if only a proportion of the VAT is recoverable from HMRC, include only that proportion which is not recoverable from HMRC in the claim for costs The legal adviser’s VAT registration number must appear in a prominent position at the head of every statement, bill of costs, fee sheet, account or voucher...

The most common reasons for entering into derivatives are for the purposes of: Speculation — when a party seeks exposure to a given variable, for example taking a view on a commodity’s future price on the assumption it will rise or fall over a chosen period Hedging — aiming to offset exposure to the risk of an unfavourable shift in a variable, or to stabilise expected outcomes over time Arbitrage — seeking to take advantage of price discrepancies (between markets, or within the same market over time) to earn profit or cut costs, or where one participant can reach a price or market unavailable to another, including where prices differ over time Exposure to asset classes — obtaining access to a target market (eg commodities, shares, property) without incurring the expense, complexity and formalities associated with those markets, avoiding the same costs and complications Derivatives are commonly used alongside lending arrangements for hedging purposes in practice. In this context, the primary...

Except where an exemption or relief applies, payments of: annual interest (or amounts that tax rules treat as annual interest), and that have a UK source must be made under deduction, with the payer required to withhold and account to HMRC for UK income tax at the basic rate (20%) or, from 6 April 2027, at the savings basic rate (22%) (for more detail, see Practice Note: UK withholding tax on yearly interest). This Practice Note describes the duty to deduct (and account to HMRC for) UK income tax from UK‑source annual interest as a withholding tax, even though it is in substance a mechanism for collecting UK income tax from the UK‑based payer rather than from the recipient who: is the beneficial owner of the income, and is likely to be based outside the UK For more information on the requirement to deduct UK income tax from UK‑source annual interest, see Practice Note: Administration...

1 Interest on late payment If a party does not make payment in accordance with this Agreement, the other party may claim, in addition to any sum that ought properly to have been settled, and recover, [ simple OR compound ] interest on that sum (accruing on a daily basis from the final date for payment until the date payment is in fact made, whether before or after judgment). Such interest will be computed at a rate of [ insert figure ]% per annum above the [ insert name of financial institution eg Bank of England ] base rate then prevailing at the time the amount immediately became overdue under this Agreement. [ The parties agree that the provisions of this clause constitute a substantial remedy for the purposes of section 9(1) of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. ]...

DATE Parties [ [ name ] of [ address ] [ and [ name ] of [ address ] ] OR [ name ] and [ name ] both of [ address ] ] ( Lender [ s ] ) [ [ name ] of [ address ] [ and [ name ] of [ address ] ] OR [ name ] and [ name ] both of [ address ] ] ( Borrower [ s ] ) 1 Definitions For the purposes of this Agreement, the terms below shall have the following meanings: Charge • the security created pursuant to clause 7.1; Default • means: any failure by the Borrower [ s ] to fulfil any of their obligations under this Agreement; or the Borrower [ s or one of them ] [ dying, or ] becoming insolvent, or entering into any form of composition or arrangement with their...

date [ date ] Parties [ name of (first) Seller ] [ and [ name of second Seller ] both ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Seller) [ name of Buyer ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) whose registered office is at [ address ] ] (Buyer) 1 Definitions For this Agreement, the terms below shall have these meanings: Buyer’s Solicitors – [ name ] of [ address ] (reference [ details ]) or any other solicitors the Buyer notifies to the Seller; Deposit – £[ amount in figures ] ([ amount in words ] pounds); [ Independent Surveyor – an independent chartered surveyor with at least [ 10 ] years’ experience in valuing property of a comparable type and in a comparable location to the Property; ]...