The price of oil in New York touched £39.97 a barrel, a fresh 13-year peak. “They are so one-way they may make the market fear the next hike will come earlier than our expectation of August.”The Bank’s warning on oil came as crude prices came within a whisker of breaking the $40 barrier in New York, Tony Blair admitted he was concerned and rumours spread of a repeat of the fuel protests that brought Britain to a standstill in 2000. “The Bank’s comments were unambiguously hawkish,” Paul Mortimer-Lee, the head of economics at BNP Paribas in London, said. It said economic growth had been “at or above trend” while business surveys were “consistent with further strengthening”.”Retail spending continues to be robust, underpinned by income growth and unexpectedly strong house price inflation Investment prospects have improved,” it said. “With a small and diminishing margin of spare capacity, inflationary pressures are likely to build despite a higher level of sterling than at the beginning of the year,” it said.Analysts said the tone was more “hawkish” than the statements accompanying its previous rate increases in November and February. It acknowledged inflation was below target and likely to remain so in the near term, but said earnings growth had picked up and oil prices had risen sharply. The National Consumer Council said that yesterday’s rate rise would be “the writing on the wall for the UK’s biggest ever credit binge”..

The Bank of England yesterday sent a clear signal it will raise interest rates over the summer as it ordered the third increase in seven months to quell inflation pressure from rising house and oil prices. And for interest-only borrowers, he said lenders should consider their ability to repay the capital amount.He added that while the FSA decided recently not to tighten rules for self-certification mortgages, there was still “no room for complacency”.As competition has intensified in the mortgage industry in recent years, Mr Tiner said he was concerned that lenders had been taking on much greater risk without fully assessing the consequences.”It is far from clear to us that all societies operating in the commercial, buy-to-let, equity release, sub-prime and self-certified markets have properly assessed the additional risks that inevitably go with the higher margins available,” he said.Consumer groups echoed Mr Tiner’s concerns about rising consumer debt. Furthermore, he said, lenders needed to look at affordability after the initial mortgage rate has increased. UBS is using it to muscle in on the market for broking the shares of small and medium sized companies, an increasingly important area for leading investment banks.Tom Hill, the bank’s global head of research, was there on the day to warn companies that more regulation meant they would need more rigorous advice while institutions needed more independent research – all supplied by UBS, the City’s very own corporate Cupid.. But it working, according to the blushing corporate maids seeking happiness with a new shareholder.The matchmaker in all of this is UBS, where the 7th floor of the Swiss-owned investment bank has been turned into a sort of corporate Love Boat Each of the 28 lonely hearts gets their own room.

There they wait while 60 institutions – all the usual suspects from the US and Europe – rotate around each room in 45-minute slots.After 40 minutes a bell rings as a five-minute warning. This way both us and the institutions get the most efficient use of time.”There is a serious purpose to all of this apart from introducing investors to public companies in double quick time. There will be one-on-one sessions but the conference bits tend to get in the way. At the end of each session, out go the institutions into the next room to the meet the next date.Michael Greig, finance director of RM, the educational technology group, said: “What some banks do is have conferences in exotic locations and have conference speakers. Lonely heart chief executives get 45 minutes a time in their own cubicle with a potential investor to impress them and hope they will marry their fortunes together.Bob the Builder company HIT Entertainment is doing it, Chrysalis, the music and radio group is doing it, McCarthy & Stone, the retirement home builders is doing it as well. In fact more than two dozen well-heeled growth companies looking to expand their investor base are now hooked on the idea of a day of quick dates with investors.Instead of champagne or wine there is still or sparkling water, and rather than romantic music there is a keynote speech from the global head of research.

While West End bars and even the famous Harrods department store have been hosting speed dating evenings for time-poor professionals who assess a string of putative partners in two minutes flat, a new version of the craze has been invented by City bankers for good looking public companies.
Businesses looking for fulfilling, long term relationships with like minded investors are now invited to speed dating sessions in the heart of the Square Mile. “But if we as an investor tried to make good everyone’s shortfall in their pension funds, we too would go bankrupt. But we are active in trying to get a change.”The Government’s planned pension protection fund would be supported by a mandatory levy on employers.. Speed dating has come to the City of London. Speaking at Prudential’s annual meeting, Sir David Clementi, the chairman, said he and Jonathan Bloomer, the chief executive, had been called into discussions with the Treasury last week about the feasibility of a retrospective compensation fund.The protesters at the meeting, supported by Amicus, accuse Prudential of concealing information from UEF’s employees, claiming it asked pension fund members to pay an extra 2 per cent to the fund when it already knew the company was in financial difficulties.In response to questions from shareholders, Mr Bloomer said he sympathised with the UEF victims, but insisted Prudential had neither legal nor moral obligations to compensate them. “There are many flaws with the way pension funds are dealt with in insolvency,” he said. If the Government does not announce firm plans to compensate victims before the Bill is debated, it is set to sustain an embarrassing loss.ISTC, the steel workers’ union, and Amicus this week said retrospective compensation would cost the Government only £50m to £76m a year for the next 30 years ­ a minute amount in relation to overall spending.The Government is now working overtime to come up with a solution, recently calling on the financial services industry for help and advice.