(Bloomberg) -- Good afternoon from Bloomberg’s UK finance team. Here are five news stories from the Square Mile and beyond that caught our eye this week.

1)   BOE Raises Rates by Most Since 1995, Warns of Long RecessionThe Bank of England unleashed its biggest interest-rate hike in 27 years as it warned the UK is heading for more than a year of recession under the weight of soaring inflation. The pound fell. 2)  UK Considers Divisive Home Loan Revolution to Rival ThatcherPlans by the ruling Conservative Party, including possible 40-year fixed-rate mortgages, are the latest part of the “property-owning democracy” idea championed by generations of UK politicians.3)  HSBC Faces Skepticism as Pushback Against Breakup Call StartsHSBC kickstarted its public fightback against Ping An’s push to break it up this week. The early indications are that the lender has a long way to go to convince some shareholders of its strategy. 

4)  Controversial Buyback Bonanza Looms as UK Rewrites Insurer RulesInsurers would potentially be able to use billions of pounds of expected gains from a relaxation of capital rules for share buybacks and to pay dividends, under plans by both candidates to succeed Boris Johnson as UK prime minister.

5)  Barclays Blunder Gives Some Burned Peloton Note Holders 1,200% BoostBarclays’ blunder with US structured notes is giving investors a way out of bets gone horribly wrong.

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