Bailey urges big banks to keep on lending and support the UK economy 

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has urged industry heavyweights to keep lending and support the UK economy.

As he presented the central bank’s latest Financial Stability Report yesterday, he said lenders had the ‘capacity to continue to support households and businesses’ even if the economic chaos from coronavirus and Brexit was much worse than expected.

He said the UK’s largest lenders, such as Barclays, Lloyds, Natwest and HSBC, would be able to cope with £200billion of loans turning sour. 

And Bailey said that the buffers which banks must build up during economic good times would remain at 0 per cent in 2021 – meaning lenders can spend their spare cash on supporting the economy without having to worry about building it back up immediately.

Addressing Brexit concerns or a spike in coronavirus cases, Bailey said: ‘What’s the Bank of England got in its armoury?  

‘The answer is a lot. We will use our tools as we did in March should we be in that situation.’