Bank of England officials to be grilled over Silicon Valley Bank collapse
Bank of England officials are called to task over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and HSBC’s cheap bailout of its UK arm
Bank of England officials will be questioned by MPs over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and HSBC’s cheap bailout of its UK arm.
Amid mounting concerns over the regulation of the global banking system, the House of Commons finance committee said it will question the bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, and other senior leaders on March 28.
The move came as the bank’s former chief economist called for tighter regulation of the sector.
Banking crisis: House of Commons finance committee said it will question bank governor Andrew Bailey and other senior leaders
In a letter to Bailey, committee chair Harriett Baldwin asked the governor to detail how SVB UK was supervised before the collapse and how HSBC was chosen to take over the bank.
She also asked “what lessons can be learned” from the episode on banking regulation.
In a letter to the Treasury’s economy minister Andrew Griffith, Baldwin asked what other support was being considered for SVB UK at the time of the HSBC bailout, and whether smaller banks serving ‘strategic sectors’ of the economy need more regulation had.
Meanwhile, Sir John Vickers, former chief economist at the Bank, said ‘more could be done’ to strengthen the regulation put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.