BoE publishes FPC minutes and confirms Brexit analysis

The FPC met on 3 October. At the meeting, it

• continued to assess the risks Brexit presents to the UK financial services sector, noting there had been considerable progress in the UK to address the risks, but not much in the rest of the EU, such that companies no longer have time to mitigate all the possible disruption on their own and will need the help of the regulators;
• confirmed its belief that the UK economy can survive a disorderly Brexit;
• reiterated its intention to keeping resilience at least as great as currently, regardless of any eventual agreement on Brexit;
• said that, Brexit apart, domestic risks are at a standard level;
• noted its concern about the growth of leveraged lending and will assess the implications of this in the 2018 bank stress test as well as looking at the role of non-bank lenders and changes in the distribution of corporate debt;
• said the economy could absorb other misconduct and stresses as well as Brexit;
• agreed to keep the CCyB at 1%;
• backed FCA’s proposals for reform of open-ended commercial real estate funds, but said suspensions must operate in a rapid and consistent manner; and
• agreed it would delay its next biennial exploratory scenario to September 2019.

Separately, in an exchange of letters with the Treasury Committee, Mark Carney confirmed BoE will provide an analysis of how Brexit will affect its ability to deliver on its statutory remits, including in the event of no deal.