UK may need more QE, warns Bank of England's Adam Posen Mr Posen, a member of the Bank's nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee, had repeatedly called for more quantitative easing until he unexpectedly voted against an extension to the £325bn programme in April. I had been hopeful in the last few months that after we did an additional £125bn [of QE] that was getting close to enough. And now I am debating whether I was premature to think that," he told the MNI newswire. Minutes of the May meeting to be published on May 23 will reveal whether or nor Mr Posen changed his vote back in favour of more QE, although economists said this was unlikely. "Although his comments suggest to us that he did not switch his vote back to supporting QE at the May meeting, there is clearly a good chance that he will resume voting for a QE extension, perhaps from next month," said Simon Hayes, economist at Barclays Capital. Mr Posen also warned that Britain may not have avoided a Japan-style downturn, where the country suffered a "lost decade." "I am not sure we have avoided that," he said. There is this disturbing parallel that the UK banking system and financial system is like Japan, and unlike the US or Germany, very concentrated in a few institutions, not very diverse in the ability to fund business, small business especially.