BoE: Big British banks are no longer ‘too big to fail’

The Bank of England said it was pleased that Britain’s top banks could close without jeopardizing the stability of the financial system or disrupting customers, but found shortfalls at three major credit institutions.

In the first public assessment of how banks that collapse during a crisis could be solved without the help of taxpayers, BoE stressed that it has also identified areas for further improvement for six companies.

The three banks found to be deficient were Lloyds, Standard Chartered and HSBC. All three banks said in separate statements that they were improving the so-called consolidation plans.

BoE aims to stop the phenomenon of banks being “too big to collapse”, possibly requiring taxpayers to bail them out, as happened in the global financial crisis of 2007-2009.

The other banks included in the rating were Barclays, Natwest, Nationwide, Santander UK and Virgin Money UK.

The Bank of England has stated that it will review its assessment in 2024, and will review the progress made by banks every two years thereafter.