‘Be very vigilant’: Bank of England chief says the market is testing banks to identify weakness

CNBC ^ | March 28, 2023 | by Elliot Smith

[Oldeconomybuyer]

LONDON — Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey on Tuesday vowed to be “very vigilant” amid ongoing volatility and suggested that the market is “testing out” banks to find weaknesses.

Global banking stocks have taken a beating in March, as contagion fears spread following the collapse of U.S.-based Silicon Valley Bank — the largest bank failure since the financial crisis — and the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by Swiss rival UBS.

Bailey told the U.K.’s Treasury Select Committee that U.S. authorities are dealing with particular issues relating to regional banks stateside, and that Credit Suisse was an “institutional story” — but affirmed that the U.K. banking system is “in a strong position capital and liquidity-wise.”

The Bank of England revealed last week that it warned U.S. regulators of the mounting risks at SVB prior to its collapse, flagging that its Prudential Regulation Authority had “understood that SVB UK was exposed to concentration risk, as it provided loans to and took deposits from the same relatively concentrated client base in the innovation sector.” It said it warned the firm and the San Francisco Federal Reserve of this risk and of “overlap of clients on the asset and liability side of the balance sheet” of SVB UK.

[ComputerGuy]

The customers are testing banks.

[ridesthemiles]

SVB assets in the UK were sold to another bank for ONE BRITISH POUND====== $1.21 American dollars.

[Churchillspirit]

“Esto Vigilans” is the motto of a major English Joint Stock bank where I worked for 20+ years. It lived up to its motto.