Global economy not on the cusp of another 2008, says Bank governor Bailey

The world is not on the cusp of another banking crisis of the scale of the 2008 crash despite recent jitters in the market, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said.

Speaking in Washington DC, Mr Bailey said the banks themselves are in a better position than they were, and that authorities also have better tools to deal with any potential problems.

“I do not see the evidence that we’ve got on our hands what I would call the makings of a 2007/08 financial crisis,” he said at an event hosted by the IMF in Washington on Wednesday evening UK time.

“I think the system is in a much more robust condition – that’s the first point of defence.

“The second point of defence is that we’ve got a lot more tools in our armoury to deal with these things than we had in 2007 and 2008 when we were somewhat making it up as we hit the crisis.”

But he said there were things to learn from the recent problems in the sector, including the speed at which bank runs can happen with modern technology and the portion of uninsured deposits in banks.

Earlier in the day, Mr Bailey said the reforms that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis “have worked”, and banks in the UK are in a good position.

“In recent weeks we have seen the crystallisation of problems in a few parts of the banking sector,” he said at the earlier event hosted by the Institute of International Finance.

“This is against a background of a necessary sharp tightening in monetary policy to bring down inflation from levels that are much too high.

“All of this has to be set against the most serious global pandemic for at least a century and the most serious war in Europe since 1945.

“Let me therefore draw a first set of conclusions and propositions from what is going on.

“The post-crisis reforms to bank regulation have worked. Today I do not believe we face a systemic banking crisis.

“When I look at the UK banks, they are well capitalised, liquid and able to serve their customers and support the economy.”

But he added that the current size of protections for bank liquidity might not be right in the future.