Banks agree to dish out Carney’s £150bn loan windfall
The UK's biggest lenders have agreed to dish out up to £150bn in extra loans to households and businesses after George Osborne and Mark Carney heaped pressure on them to prop up the economy after the EU referendum.
Carney said he would block the extra cash being used to fund dividend payouts or returns to shareholders and said he "expects" lenders to use a decent chunk of the cash to keep credit flowing.
Read more: Carney's Brexit response wins City praise
Eight banks have now pledged to do just that following a meeting with the chancellor this morning. In a joint statement made with Osborne, the CEOs of challenger banks Virgin Money and Metro, along with the chairs of Santander UK, HSBC, RBS, Barclays, Nationwide and a non-executive director of Lloyds, said:
"While we are realistic about the economic challenge facing the country after the referendum result, we are reassured that collectively we can rise to it. The last time Britain faced an economic shock the banks were at the heart of the problem."
Referring to the new cash at their disposal, the lenders also "agreed to make the extra capital available to support lending to UK businesses and households in this challenging time".