Bank of England ‘stress tests’ of the financial sector are welcome – but the biggest threat is the government

A series of squalls have rocked financial institutions outside the banking sector. That Threadneedle Street has belatedly woken up to the risks is important. But financial stability is still dependent on the government, argues James Moore

The Bank of England is worried about an escalating series of threats outside of banks (PA)

It is being billed as a “world first”. After Trussonomics came frighteningly close to destroying some of Britain’s biggest pension funds, the Bank of England has decided that it might be a good idea to take a look at “vulnerabilities in non-bank financial markets”.

As such, Threadneedle Street is set to create and conduct “an exploratory scenario”.

Good old Andrew Bailey. The governor of the Bank of England is a clever chap. As is so often the case with clever chaps, he appears to feel the need to prove it through the verbosity of his writing.