
Bank Underground, the blog written by Bank of England staff - Erikun
https://bankunderground.co.uk/about-3/
======
tombrossman
Bank of England blog: HTTPS only

Bank of England primary website: HTTP only

They get bonus points for their Let's Encrypt cert and a solid 'A' on SSL Labs
(some amusing alt names on the cert though - not their fault and no big deal).

Maybe someone at the bank will realize soon that HTTPS is for more than
protecting log-ins, it guarantees the integrity of the page and makes sure the
browser displays only and exactly what was sent, with no tampering in transit.

~~~
corin_
They just chose to have a hosted blog from Wordpress with a custom domain,
Wordpress chose to use a Let's Encrypt certificate and to lump a bunch of
different customers' custom domains into one certificate request hence the alt
names.

~~~
oarsinsync
Lots of sites using the same private key. Could this be potentially
problematic?

~~~
tombrossman
Not really, the host is already trusted (as explained in the parent comment).
The domain owner is free to obtain a different certificate with a new private
key that only they know if they wish. When you choose to use shared hosting
you are already delegating plenty of trust so it's reasonable to use the
host's private key.

------
spicerguy
completely irrelevant point of clarification: bank underground refers to the
London Underground (metro station) stop immediately in front of the bank,
rather than some sort of anarchist agenda (but given UK civil servants general
ambivalence towards authority there may be a slightly sly nod to the
alternative reading of this).

~~~
jessriedel
Couldnt it be a double entendre? "Weather undrground" isnt anarchist, but it
is a tongue in cheek way to express that its not mainstream.

~~~
colah3
Although, there was at one point an anarchist organization called the weather
underground:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground)
I understand they had a "brick reallocation committee" that reallocated bricks
through windows.

As objectionable as such behavior might be, I find the understated names
pretty amusing.

------
coderdude
This looks promising and different. I like that they say up front that some
staff opinions will align with the views of the organization and some will
not. I'm sure someone will come up with something shallow to complain about
but this is actually cool.

~~~
branchless
BoE are very old establishment. I think taking text on a BoE blog that it will
be free speech is not realistic. Like the BBC they will be with you right
until it matters. Then you are on one side of the fence and the establishment
are on the other with the BBC/BoE next to them, grinning.

------
branchless
This blog is like a guerrilla offshoot from the BoE from staff who are trying
to tell us we are being robbed blind by the banks.

Best one is this:

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/06/30/banks-are-not-
inter...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/06/30/banks-are-not-
intermediaries-of-loanable-funds-and-why-this-matters/)

Banks do not intermediate funds when lending they create new money. This has
interest due on it. Create more to cover the interest or die.

Please HN have a read as I see so many disheartening comments on HN about
finance. It's depressing.

~~~
alanwatts
>Banks do not intermediate funds when lending they create new money. This has
interest due on it. Create more to cover the interest or die.

Professor Franz Hormann of the Vienna University of Economics further
elaborates on this catch-22 in his banned TED talk:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYWVbdSX7B4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYWVbdSX7B4)

~~~
oneloop
[citation needed]

~~~
alanwatts
I don't know what "banned" means in this case, it's just from the title. His
point stands however:

Money Supply + Interest > Money Supply => perpetual debt servitude

------
chollida1
This is a great site for anyone who is interested in macro economics and
global credit issues.

I've followed it for the past year and here is a list of "curated" articles
from the blog that I found interesting enough to bookmark and make notes on:

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/05/03/the-growth-of-
peer-...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/05/03/the-growth-of-peer-to-peer-
lending-platforms-and-prospects-for-banks-disintermediation-hype-or-real-
threat/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/03/22/1602/](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/03/22/1602/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/03/18/](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/03/18/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/10/30/rational-and-
behavi...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/10/30/rational-and-behavioural-
drivers-of-financial-markets-the-case-of-search-for-yield/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/10/20/does-oil-drive-
fina...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/10/20/does-oil-drive-financial-
market-inflation-expectations/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/10/14/is-starting-a-
new-m...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/10/14/is-starting-a-new-market-
like-opening-a-nightclub/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/11/19/regulatory-
arbitrag...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2015/11/19/regulatory-arbitrage-in-
action-evidence-from-cross-border-lending-and-macroprudential-policy/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/01/15/testing-the-test-
ho...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/01/15/testing-the-test-how-reliable-
are-risk-model-backtesting-results/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/02/29/stress-tests-the-
sm...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/02/29/stress-tests-the-small-print-
matters/)

[https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/03/31/modelling-
banking-s...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/03/31/modelling-banking-
sector-shocks-and-unconventional-policy-new-wine-in-old-bottles/)

The bank of England has been very lucky with the people it has had lead it in
the past 20 years. It had Mervyn King lead it up until recently and since then
Mark Carney, they stole him from the same position in Canada:(, has lead them.
England's been very lucky to have these two people in charge of its fiscal
path.

Canada has certainly missed Mark Carney's leadership.

[http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-05-05/the-book-
th...](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-05-05/the-book-that-will-
save-banking-from-itself)

------
user_rob
This is a really good resource for anyone interested in economics at any
level, but personally I would like them to provide a children's version (Which
would suit my level of interest better).

~~~
timthorn
Not saying that this is what you're arguing, but - I wish it wasn't assumed
that children are only able to understand simple concepts. Younger kids might
find it hard to get through dense prose, buy that doesn't mean that the ideas
therein couldn't be understood with appropriate presentation.

If you've a child with a deep interest in an area, you get to the point where
you've devoured the children's literature on the subject and are left grasping
for new material that will satisfy their thirst for new knowledge in a form
they can read themselves.

~~~
CaptSpify
Maybe "beginner's version" would be a better way to phrase it?

------
Paul_S
This is fluff. Is there a banking equivalent of (no longer available)
NightJack?

(If you don't know because maybe you don't live in the UK, NighJack was a blog
written by a cop, off the record)

~~~
dmix
I found the few article's I read on the blog had pretty high quality content.
Did you read any of them?

------
jsprogrammer
The top post [0] leads with a factually incorrect assertion:

>Peer-to-peer lending platforms (P2P platforms) emerged after the financial
crisis by catering for pent-up demand for unsecured borrowing from individuals
and small businesses.

Prosper was started in 2005 and the article's primary example, Zopa, started
in 2004.

[0] [https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/05/03/the-growth-of-
peer-...](https://bankunderground.co.uk/2016/05/03/the-growth-of-peer-to-peer-
lending-platforms-and-prospects-for-banks-disintermediation-hype-or-real-
threat/#more-1705)

~~~
jonwachob91
Maybe they are referring to the Tech bubble of the early 2000's? Kinda of a
stretch but still possible...

~~~
jsprogrammer
Vague terminology is vague. The article was written in the last month
(presumably); referring to 2000 as "the financial crisis" would be supremely
dishonest given what we have experienced since then.

I get that banks provoke regular crises, so there are many that could be
referred to, but I can't imagine this article was referring to the 2000 tech
bubble.

------
kinai
"Our goal is to bring more of our thinking into the public domain..."

Like any other bank: Rob the small people, give to the rich, make the
government your bitch

~~~
cbeach
Yikes! Do you know of a bank that has robbed from the small people? I work in
finance and there's tremendous protection for the small people in everything
we do. Their deposits are covered by government guarantees, whereas the richer
clients are left more exposed.

But if you have an instance where banks have stolen from small people I would
love to hear more about it, and I'm sure it will make front page news around
the world.

~~~
eru
British banks (not the BoE) are shafting their poorer customers with lots of
fees. They regularly get dinged for it by their regulator.

(Can't complain about eg German banks too much in that regard. But the British
banks are really the scum of the earth as far as `not being evil' to poorer
customers is concerned..)

~~~
spicerguy
There's a debate to be had about "no such thing as free banking" \- I'm very
familiar with the world of prepay in the UK and retail banking practice is a
big headwind here.

~~~
stevejones
The big deal in the UK, a few years ago, was that a person would go overdrawn,
deposit money to cover it immediately but then get charged an overdraft fee by
an overnight process. This fee would put them overdrawn, leaving them liable
for a second overdraft fee - which would be charged the next night...

This was ruled to be illegal and banks had to set up whole departments to
process return claims. I suspect this is the main cause of the big headwind.

~~~
spjwebster
It was slightly more insidious than that - they were processing debits before
credits, and charging a fee for insufficient funds if your balance dipped
below zero (or below your overdraft limit) in the process:

[https://www.fca.org.uk/news/commitment-high-street-banks-
ret...](https://www.fca.org.uk/news/commitment-high-street-banks-retry-system)

