Andrew Bailey, Financial

BOE: Record of the Financial Policy Committee – June 2020

As announced on 3 June, in light of the interim Financial Stability Report (FSR) published in May, the Financial Policy Committee decided on 22 May to delay the publication of the Q2 FSR to Thursday 6 August, and had revised its meeting schedule and work plan accordingly.

In the period since its May meeting, the FPC had taken a number of decisions by written procedure. These decisions included the 2020 Q2 setting of the UK Countercyclical Capital Buffer (CCyB) rate, the agreement of the Committee’s response to HM Treasury’s 2020 remit and recommendations letter, and the postponement of certain planned initiatives in response to the ongoing disruption arising from Covid-19. The Committee also received a written update on the progress of Libor transition.

Decisions to postpone certain planned initiatives reflected in part the fact that underlying work being done elsewhere had been delayed in light of the Covid-19 disruption, with resulting implications for the FPC’s work programme. The decisions also reflected the focus of the Committee’s and Bank staff time on dealing with the disruption and ensuring that the UK financial system could be a source of strength to the economy during this challenging period. The Committee emphasised that these decisions had been taken for pragmatic reasons, given the unprecedented current circumstances, and in no way reflected a change in strategic direction for the FPC in relation to the relevant issues.

This Record outlines the decisions, and briefly sets out the considerations which factored in them.