Hunt and Bailey united at IMF talks on potential banking changes

Consider raising saver protection

The governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt both signalled that their respective institutions would consider raising the level of protection of bank customers in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.

Speaking individually at the International Monetary Fund spring meetings in Washington, Bailey and Hunt said the deposit insurance scheme needed to be addressed and potentially increase the limit from the current £85,000. Bailey was asked directly if UK banks were holding enough liquidity - or available cash  - to cope with short-term shocks, similar to the tsunami of redemptions which ultimately saw SVB collapse. Bailey: Monetary policy will not be knocked off course by financial stability concerns The governor said the UK banks were solid and "well capitalised, liquid and able to...