this is bbc news, the headlines: jamie lee curtis has won the best supporting actress at the oscars, which are taking place in hollywood. all quiet on the western front has also done very well. the us government has announced a rescue plan to ensure all depositors in the failed silicon valley bank can retrieve their funds by the start of the working week. the treasury said the plan will ensure the resilience of the broader us banking system. the uk prime minister has flown to california to discuss defence and the potential threat from china. rishi sunak is due to meet

the australian prime minister, and the us president. the three countries are expected to agree to provide australia with nuclear powered submarines. now on bbc news, talking business. welcome to talking business. take a look at what is on the show. rates are rising around the world so why aren't more savers getting a better deal from the banks? bumper profits are expected from the biggest financial institutions this year as they charge more to borrow but those with savings have not been the same consistent increase in with what they get paid with putting money in the bank. so why not? i would discuss this with these three, we have the new york federal reserve, the banker

magazine and the university of couege magazine and the university of college london, who thinks that central banks should consider more radical steps to get banks to pass on better deals for savers. plus what is behind the trend of tomorrow, my interview with a global ceo with one of the biggest tram and tramway makers. wherever your arejoining me from around the world, once again a big hello and warm welcome to the show. you know, across the world's most powerful countries, the cost of borrowing money has been going up. central banks, they've been raising the interest rates to tackle inflation. and while banks have been lightning fast in passing on those rising rates to those

who borrow from them, those who save with their banks, well, they've not been seeing the same immediate reaction. if they want higher rates, they often have to shop around and move their money. in the united states, the world's biggest economy, you can see the difference. the average interest rate for someone wanting to take out a 30—year mortgage is around 7%. but the average rate for savers? it's a lot less. just 0.35% a year. so, if you put $1,000 into the bank, you would earn just $3.50 in interest. in europe, it's a similar story. the average interest rate you have to pay if you want to borrow money to buy a house is around 3%. however, for savers, you're still only getting an average of a tiny one tenth of a percent in an instant access savings account. and here in the uk, the average mortgage for a variable rate, in other words, one that tracks the market, isjust over 7%. but the average rate that savers get is around just one quarter of 1%. it's important to say

that those average rates are just that — an average. the banks say they offer much better saving rates on some products but finding them and getting the means that savers have to be active in moving money and looking for better deals. we asked the american bankers' association, the international banking federation, and uk finance, which represents uk banks, to talk to us today. they all declined our invitation. some bank chiefs have been called to answer questions about this issue to lawmakers. here's what the boss of britain's lloyds banking group said to members of parliament. typically, people with money to invest and save, they aren't struggling with the cost of living, with the day—to—day living expenses and they typically don't have a mortgage. the average mortgage customer has £75,000 of income. and for savers, it's the same story. 80% of customers in the uk have less than £5,000. so, they are the ones we really worry about from a mortgage

and from a cost—of—living perspective. there's a relatively smaller percentage that are looking for returns. and we really believe in transparency and fairness and we've got products similar to alison and ian that can provide 4%, 5% returns for those customers. and it's all about transparency and choice and access that we really focus on for them. so, is this anything new? let's find out from someone who's been running the numbers on how interest rates are passed on to savers in the united states over the last 30 years. matthew plosser from the federal reserve bank of new york, a real pleasure having you on the show. matthew, you've been looking at how banks pass rate rises or falls onto their customers over the last, what, three decades? is this anything new, that when rates go up, borrowers have to pay more, but savers really don't benefit? well, the pattern of having saving rates trail interest rates has been true for quite some time. mm. what's been kind of interesting is, since the financial crisis, it's been even slower

than we had seen prior to that. and so one thing we've been looking at is trying to understand perhaps why that was the case and whether or not we would expect the traditional relationship to return to normal. so, matthew, why, what did you find? so, we explored several different possible reasons. regulations have changed quite a bit, both in the us and globally. we've seen an extended period of really low interest rates. and during that period of really low interest rates, banks accumulated a lot of savings deposits, a lot of deposits in general. and so, banks have had more funding than they really need in order to finance the investment opportunities that they see in the marketplace. and that's made them more reticent to raise deposit rates and saving rates when they go up. because they already have more funding than they really know what to do with. and we talk about the banks being awash with cash. has a big part of that come off

the back of the pandemic? when people were putting money away, basically? they weren't going on holidays, they weren't going out? this was certainly true post—financial crisis and the pandemic brought it back in spades. things were starting to normalise and then, of course, during the pandemic, banks became again awash in deposits. and only once deposit rates started rising did we see that pattern reverse. consumer spending went up but so did opportunities to invest your cash in more competitive vehicles. when rates were really low, during covid or after the financial crisis, we didn't see a lot of opportunities for depositors to find better deals. all rates were low. and, matthew, let me end on this. i'm just wondering should central banks be doing more? can they do more perhaps to force banks to increase the rates for savers? i'm not going to make a policy application here but here's what i would say — is that savers have lots of opportunities besides the bank that they currently store their deposits with. so, if you look at the

marketplace for transaction like deposit products, money market mutual funds, cds, certain high yield savings accounts, they are offering very competitive rates. one of the reasons banks are able to keep their rates low is because consumers are slow to re—optimise, they are slow to find these opportunities. but they are certainly out there. and so i think the first step is for consumers to make sure that they're doing what they want to do with their money and that they're aware of the opportunity costs that they are paying by staying in the account that they currently in. matthew plosser from the federal reserve bank of new york, a real pleasure having you on the show, thank you forjoining me and i'll check in with you soon. thanks for having me. because banks are charging more for lending but paying less to savers, they could be in for a record year in terms of the profits they make. so, let's find out who's going to benefit and why. liz lumley from the banker magazine, a real pleasure having you with us. let me start with this, this does seem to be a global issue. i'm wondering — are banks so awash with cash that they

simply don't need to offer better rates? yeah, you basically got it in one, it's the end of the interview! that is the issue. i mean, there's so many people that put money into savings during covid that there's really no commercial reason for banks to offer. now, they don't need to attract new customers, they don't need to attract new money, because they have so much capital that they're holding that there's no commercial incentive for them to do that right at the moment. and, liz, we saw a windfall tax here in the uk on energy companies and there are now some voices calling for a windfall tax on the banks because of this situation. i mean, is that something banks are concerned about? banks move for two reasons — they are either making money or a regulator tells them to do something. so, there's a lot of people who are making comments that

a tax, a windfall tax, which is only really being talked about in the uk, really wouldn't achieve the goals that it's meant to achieve, which is basically to offer the consumer, public, a higher savings rate, which is the end goal. liz, i'm also just wondering, this situation, is this anything new — where the cost of borrowing goes up but the rates for savers doesn't? saving rates are always going to be lower than the lending rate. because that's how traditional banks cover their costs. because there has been such an influx of cash, and banks have, you know, recorded record profits, so, i mean, for example, deutsche bank had just recorded a 15—year high profit of 5.6 billion. so, this is all, of course, we know what happened in 2020, the era of covid, this isjust absolutely taken off. sorry to interrupt, liz, just for the uninitiated, can you explain why the banks from 2020 onwards have been making these record profits? a bank is a regulated entity that takes deposits

and makes loans. but what banks do is hold money. and move it around. like, that is... that is the basic bank business. so, with all this cash in the system, there is a lot more cash than they have in their reserves, that's part of their business. not every investment bank, but a lot of investment banks, also profited from the stock market volatility that we've been going through over the past three years because of covid. there are some good deals out there, aren't there? particularly from newer banks, who need to attract the cash. yeah, i mean, in the uk, the rates of 3% or 4% but newer banks are offering better rates, like, around 3% or 4% that they are offering better products to attract new customers. also newer banks, like in the uk, starling, monzo, raisin in germany, they don't have the infrastructure and legacy

costs that incumbent banks do. i'm just wondering how do you see this developing over let's just say the next couple of years? is this current situation here to stay? well, one of the things... i think there probably will be a bit. i know the eu is talking a little bit about a regulation and the uk is. the us maybe a bit less. some new regulation might come in to require banks to offer higher rates of savings to customers. but also, at the end of the day, there's a possibility that central banks will lower some of these interest rates. we are getting to a point with the cost of living crisis and with inflation, and i hate to put it this way, but you're going to get to the point where sections of the population that aren't normally in financially vulnerable positions are going to find themselves in those positions. when the middle class starts defaulting on their mortgages, that's when things change. and that change is either through the government,

you know, putting in regulation or the central banks are saying, "we just can't raise interest rates any more" and they will drop them. so, the banks are kind of playing a waiting game, they're not going to raise interest rates for saving products until they see exactly where the interest rates are going to go. because if they fall, they don't have to do anything at all. briefly, though do you see that coming around the corner, middle class in society slipping? i mean, during covid, the banks had a brief period where they were the good guys, you know, with the bounce back loans and, you know, and dealing with that service and very well. but they're they're going to enter a pr minefield coming up very soon. and if you get into a period where a section of the population that doesn't normally default on their loans start defaulting on their loans and an actual major recession happens and banks post huge profits, it's...it'sjust not a good look. and i think that they're looking a little wary that something like that might happen.

but we'll see. 0k. well, on that point, liz lumley from the banker magazine, a real pleasure having you on the show. thanks for your time and i'll talk to you soon. thank you. well, my next guest from university college london says that central banks should be looking at taking radical steps to change this situation if banks don't pass on interest rates to savers. frederic malherbe, a real pleasure having you on the show. i know you like to go by, fred, so we'll start with this, fred — what action do you think central banks should take to, well, to make sure that banks pass on higher rates to savers? that's an excellent question. so here's — here's the situation at the moment. for instance, in the uk, banks can get your money. you save their money with your money with them and they park it at the central bank. they earn they earn 4% and they typically only give you i%. so, for every £100 that you save with them, they earn annually £4, they give you £1,

and keep £3 for the bank. and in the context of the cost—of—living crisis in particular, i don't think this is good. i think this is a problem. and what the central bank could do is actually to make those interest payments to the bank conditional on those rates to be passed on to savers, so in practice, they could impose a maximum margin. what does that mean? well, they would tell the banks, "we will give you 4%, "but only if you give at least 3%, for instance, "to the savers". it's quite a radical suggestion, fred. i'm just wondering, do you think it's — this is likely? it is desirable. whether the central banks will want to do that? i don't know. but, fred, you know, the critics will say, look, banks aren't charities. you know, they're in it to make money. isn't this just the way the markets work?

well, this is at, the moment, the way the markets work but this is not a well—functioning market. banks serve all sorts of very important purposes and they face costs, so they they should make a margin. i am not saying that the banks should pass on the full 4% to the savers, but i doubt that keeping a 3% margin is really necessary. people don't really move their money around. they should, but they don't. and this is what lets the banks take advantage of. but, fred, i'mjust thinking here — if the banks already are sitting on a pile of money, they don't need new deposits, there's no competition, none of this is going to work. i think it could still work. it is true that the banks are sitting on a huge pile of cash which they hold in reserves at the — at the central bank. and so, in a sense, they don't need that money to make extra loa ns. but itjust means that there is extra liquidity in the system, and the central bank is paying 4% for

that in the — in the uk, other rates elsewhere in the world. but then the question is to whom should those interest payments go? should it be to the savers or to the bank? and so, in my point of view, it should be a bit of both, but probably much more — a much, much biggerfraction should go to the savers and for the service they provide, a small fraction should go to — to the bank. well, on that note, frederic malherbe, a real pleasure having you on the show. thanks for your input and i'll check in with you soon. thank you very much. my pleasure. you know, the global transport system has had a time of, well, unparalleled disruption. but with the pandemic seemingly over and the supply chain problems largely resolving themselves, what's the future of the train? well, i caught up with the boss of one of the world's biggest players to find outjust how the world is letting the train take the strain. henri poupart—lafarge, a real pleasure having you on my show. thanks for your time.

henri, let's start with this. you're one of the world's biggest rolling stock manufacturers, producing and shipping trains all across the globe, but let me ask you this — with governments everywhere today short of cash because of covid and the war in ukraine, are they still buying trains? yes. thank you. good afternoon, and thank you for your question. actually, i mean, there is a greater challenge than only the immediate cash impact of some of the crisis. the greater challenge is the climate change and all the governments in the world are absolutely aware of the need to tackle this climate change challenge and, therefore, are investing heavily in rail — whether it's for cities, urban transportation, or between cities for the main lines. henri, we know you operate in 70 countries, you employ around 75,000 people. i've got to ask you — who are your biggest buyers right now? and what —

what are people buying? we have all, to be fair — all the markets are quite positive nowadays, but they have different type of drivers. when you look in europe, it's mostly climate change challenges, regional trains, some very large investment, various speed, as you know, in the uk, for example, for hs2. but today, what we seeing in emerging markets, so, in particular, in india is one of the fastest—growing market is in india, where we see a number of cities acquiring metros forjust tackling the basic need of mobility within the cities, so we have a large market. but, to be fair, driven on one hand by the urbanisation, on the other hand, on the need to favour transportation over the other modes of transportation. you've been present in china for almost 60 years — in fact, you were one of the first western companies to start business in that country — and i'm wondering how important is china for your business

today? or have chinese companies become your competitors? and i say that because china's crrc corporation is by far the world's biggest train manufacturer today. we are present, as you said, in china for a long time now. we are operating through a number ofjoint ventures on rolling stock like metros or various—speed trains, as well. we have also joint ventures in signalling, so we are quite present on the chinese market. if you account for all our employees within the joint ventures, we are close to 8,000 employees in china — so, quite remarkable. and, indeed crrc, our chinese competitor, is present not only in china, of course, but also in a number of emerging countries — in particular, in latin america, in middle east and south africa. but we are competing with them where we are heading against them and sometimes, we are partnering with them — it depends on the market. talking of regions — you're expanding in africa.

i mean, how difficult is that to expand on that continent when, well, the chinese have got a — they've got a big presence in africa. well, our strategy is really to localise our production in the main market and i think this is extremely well appreciated by all our customers worldwide. we have a fantastic success in south africa. we are providing trains, but we are not only providing trains, we have also a factory manufacturing all the trains, all the equipments, subsystems of the trains. i think that's our global strategy, which is to be close to our customers, close to the operators, close to the people who are benefiting from the trains. it's proven to be a success in africa, as well. henri, i want to bring in the united states because we had another train derailment recently — in fact, according to the numbers, there's more than 1,000 derailments every year in that country. what's gone wrong with america's train system and that infrastructure needed?

because i'm just wondering, is it simply a lack of investment over the years? or i'm wondering if it's also just a lack of love for train travel, certainly compared to our european friends? there is a huge investment plan in the us, as you know, and we have the infrastructure and job act — which, of course, aims at upgrading, significantly, all the infrastructure in the us. there was, in the past, as well, a lot of investment on what they call ptc, which is a signalling system in the us to ensure the safety of the trains. so maybe, the us would be seen as lagging behind in the past in terms of infrastructure but i think a lot of money is being invested to catch up, both in terms of freight and in terms of mainline. and also, i have to say, in terms of urban — urban systems, as well. so, yes, there is a need of investment, but this need is very well recognised by the current administration, which is investing a lot in infrastructure. now, you say — you say they're all heading

in that direction but if i look here at the uk — and i'm in london right now — and you look at transport for london, which operates the famous london tube, they've got a pretty mighty union that does not want to automate the london underground. well, as you know, we're extremely present in the london underground and we are extremely proud of having delivered the trains for elizabeth line — for example, which is a very brand new line. working perfectly, perfectly well. and, yes, we are working on these automated automation of some of the lines. but it takes, as you said, it takes a lot of time for that. between you and me, do you think the london tube or the london underground would work more efficiently if — if they used autonomous trains? in general, autonomous trains bring a better regularity of the traffic. so actually, the headway is between two metros. if you go to very short headways, only automated trains can achieve these kind of headways. but now to automate the line,

it's a huge investment, to be fair, so you cannot do that. on the new lines, a lot of metros are now requiring automated lines. but for existing lines, it's a huge investment, which is, of course perturbation when you have to move from a non—automated to an automated line. so, it takes a lot of time to do that. so, it's a long, long process. and henri, are you operating in russia and ukraine right now? in ukraine, we have some staff in ukraine — a limited number, a little bit more than 30 people. but, of course, we think about them every day and they are continuing to work under the very complex situation in which they are. we are not operating in russia. we have ceased our operations in russia. so, we have some plan in ukraine. we were penetrating the ukrainian market. of course, we are very committed to — to ukraine, but very committed in the first place to our people in ukraine. and henri, let me end on this. greener mobility solutions — that's your bread and butter. but with governments and businesses like alstom

feeling the impact of these these high prices, consumers facing this global cost of living crisis, is sustainable travel more of a priority today than it has been in the past? well, we need, and the world, as you said, is already facing this challenge on one hand, to have this inflation and the economic crisis that we are facing and on the other hand, day by day, we see the impact of the climate change, so we need to find a way to combine the two. and it's fair to recognise that trains is much more efficient from an energy standpoint, from a cost standpoint, than to have your individual cars or individual mode of transportation. so, we need to find a good environment, regulatory environment, in order to boost the usage of trains in the world. but it's true that the situation today is quite challenging and all the states have prioritised for this rail investment as opposed to other type of investment. but it's true that it's a complex situation to be in. well, on that point,

henri poupart—lafarge, the big boss of alstom, a real pleasure, my friend, having you on the show. thanks for your time and i'll talk to you soon. my pleasure. thanks a lot. thank you. well, that's it for this week's show. i hope you enjoyed it. don't forget, you can keep up with the latest on our global economy on the bbc website or the smartphone app. you can also follow me on twitter. tweet me — i'll tweet you back. you can get me @bbcaaron. thanks for watching. i'll see you soon. bye— bye. hello there. the snow was melting on sunday, temperatures were widely in double figures, but that doesn't mean the cold weather has gone away because we've got warnings from the met office through monday and into tuesday

for snow and ice across northern parts of the uk. and it's cold in the far north of scotland — temperatures close to freezing first thing in the morning. otherwise, it is a very mild start to monday. we may well have some early sunshine across eastern parts of england before we see a few showers. other parts of the uk, more cloud, showers or longer spells of rain, and the rain in scotland is going to be turning more to snow, particularly over the hills, as a northerly wind strengthens. it's going to be a windy day. we'll see gales developing in the north of scotland later and strong to gale force winds widely across england and wales, where we've still got temperatures in double figures on monday afternoon. but it's getting colder in northern ireland and particularly in scotland, and that rain undercut by that cold northerly wind will be turning to snow. more fresh snow, particularly over the hills — 5—10 centimetres above 300m. could be a bit of snowjust for a while at low levels, too. and that mixture of rain, sleet and snow, mainly for the hills, will sweep down across england and wales after dark, clearing

away by tuesday morning. and then, we're all in a north—westerly wind which will bring down colder air once again. and it will bring a mixture, really, of sunshine and scattered wintry showers, initially across scotland, northern ireland. they'll push down into england and wales — not much, though — arriving in southern england or south wales, and the afternoon may be drier in scotland and northern ireland. but it's colder — typical temperatures are going to be four orfive degrees, but there'll be a north—westerly wind as well, which will make it feel even colder. and those temperatures will fall very quickly overnight as we see skies clear and the winds drop. wednesday morning will start with a widespread frost. temperatures in scotland could be about —8 or so. and while it's a dry start, we'll see the cloud increasing during wednesday. rain coming in a little more quickly with some snow over hills in the north, particularly for scotland. still quite cold air — temperatures around 5—8 degrees. so, over the week ahead, while we've seen some mild weather over the weekend, things are turning colder.

we've got the risk of some snow and ice but then, things turn milderfrom thursday, when we're more likely to get some rain.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm rich preston. our top stories: a great night at the oscars for the eccentric, multi—verse film everything everywhere all at once. it's won seven awards, including best picture, best director and best actress for michelle yeoh. iam in i am in hollywood and it is indeed phenomenal success for the cast and crew of everywhere you, winning in almost every major category — — everything everywhere all at once. the us government announces a rescue plan to ensure all depositors in the failed silicon valley bank can retrieve their funds at the start of the next

working day.