The Bank of England published minutes of the Market Participants Group meeting, a senior-level forum bringing together financial market participants and members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), covering international and domestic market narratives. The Governor opened by reiterating that the MPC was in listening mode and that the discussion would follow relevant competition and conduct laws. On international developments, participants pointed to a positive global growth backdrop supporting risk sentiment, some rotation into European and Asian assets, and geopolitical concerns driving volatility including in precious metals. The minutes note record corporate issuance in January and tight credit spreads, alongside discussion of artificial intelligence and its potential effects on productivity, investment, employment and prices, with uncertainty around timing and magnitude. On the UK, participants described the February MPC outcome as expected but interpreted the vote split and communications as finely balanced, contributing to a dovish market reaction that lowered near-term Bank Rate pricing; further out, an upward-sloping yield curve was attributed to term premia rather than expectations of future rate increases. Views differed on the macro outlook and the restrictiveness of policy, balancing concerns about wage inflation against evidence of subdued growth and labour market weakness.
Bank of England 2026-02-13
Bank of England publishes Market Participants Group minutes on global growth risks and dovish repricing of the Bank Rate path
The Bank of England released minutes from the Market Participants Group meeting, highlighting discussions on global growth, geopolitical volatility, and artificial intelligence's impact on productivity. The meeting also covered UK market reactions to the February Monetary Policy Committee outcome, noting a dovish response and differing views on macroeconomic outlook and policy restrictiveness.