A collapse of one of Britain’s biggest lenders could be handled by the authorities without disruption to banking services and without taxpayers being forced into a bailout, the Bank of England has concluded following its latest assessment of the industry’s crisis planning.
It said that the country’s eight biggest lenders had made “significant progress” in bolstering their resolution arrangements — that is, the preparations banks and building societies are required to make to plan for their own failure.
Although its review identified some issues with lenders’ contingency planning, it said that these were not likely to impede the “ability to execute a resolution”. The only lender found to have a “shortcoming” that might “unnecessarily complicate” a resolution was Standard Chartered.
It is the second time