Bank of England’s Breeden warns Iran war could set off bond and private credit crisis Markets The energy crisis set off by Donald Trump’s war in Iran has made a financial crash more likely, according to the Bank of England’s financial stability chief, who warned that private credit, sky-high sovereign debt and stock market exuberance posed salient threats to the global economy. Sarah Breeden, the central bank’s deputy governor for financial [...]
Watchdog warns on ‘fire sale dynamics’ risk in repo market Markets The global financial watchdog has urged regulators to cast a closer eye over the ways in which leveraged trades in the short-term repo market could amplify financial stability risks worldwide. Regulators at the Financial Stability Board (FSB) are particularly concerned that leveraged investors might be forced to dump their assets in the event of a [...]
Financial stability before glory: Why professional sport must grow up Sport Business Professional sport has never looked richer or felt more fragile. Revenues are growing, valuations are rising, and private capital is circling like never before. Yet beneath the surface, financial fragility remains endemic. Too many clubs – across football, rugby, cricket and beyond – are one bad season, one failed owner, or one missed broadcast deal [...]
Growing threats to UK financial stability December 4, 2025 What keeps you up at night? For the governor of the Bank of England it’s a long list of threats to the UK’s financial system – so let’s take a look at them. The Bank of England’s latest financial stability report makes for a sobering read. It says “risks to financial stability have increased during [...]
Bank of England sounds alarm on leveraged hedge fund bond bets December 3, 2025 The Bank of England has sounded the alarm on international hedge funds snapping up record levels of UK government debt, warning that their highly leveraged bets leave Britain increasingly exposed to a bond market meltdown. In its biannual Financial Stability Report, the central bank said the large share of UK government debt held by risk-seeking asset [...]
Andrew Bailey: Stock markets could crash if debt levels spiral October 13, 2025 Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned that stock markets could suffer a “disorderly adjustment” due to spiralling debt levels and other vulnerabilities. Ahead of a seminal week in Washington DC where global financial leaders are set to discuss the future of multilateralism, Bailey said bullish markets and spiralling sovereign debt levels had left [...]
The Bank of England is dying for data on private markets July 10, 2025 City Editor Simon Hunt on the stories that caught his eye this week Andrew Bailey’s svelte profile has attracted much City chatter the past year. Some say the guv’nor has a strict exercise regime to lose weight; skeptics reckon it’s Ozempic. Here’s my theory: Bailey is wearing so many different hats, the constant switch between [...]
Government and business need a new deal to navigate today’s uncertainty October 28, 2024 By year end, over half of the world’s population will have participated in a national election.With so many voters going to the polls, and the potential for disruptive transitions, concernsabout widespread political uncertainty have been chipping away at economic sentiment formuch of 2024. Given the wider global economic and geopolitical headwinds, this uncertaintyrisks dragging much [...]
Longer-term mortgages are on the rise amid financial stability risk concerns October 17, 2024 In the first quarter of 2024, half of new mortgages had terms of 30 years or longer, up from just 12 per cent in the final quarter of 2005.
‘Market prices vulnerable to sharp correction,’ Bank of England warns June 27, 2024 The Bank of England has warned that investors are only focusing on good economic news, sending up asset prices and raising the risk of a “sharp correction” in the future.