Carney: Bank of England ‘well prepared’ for disorderly Brexit
The Bank of England is well prepared for a disorderly Brexit and has planned for the worst, the bank's governor Mark Carney has said.
Carney said the BoE had used “stress tests” to make sure the country's largest banks could meet the needs of households and business no matter what path Brexit takes.
It comes after he reportedly told cabinet ministers house prices house prices could crash 35 per cent over three years in the event of a no-deal Brexit yesterday.
Read more: Mark Carney warns house prices could fall by a third in a no-deal Brexit
Carney was speaking at the Central Bank of Ireland in Dublin on the impact of technology on employment but his rhetoric wandered on to the subject of Brexit.
He said: “The Bank of England is well prepared for whatever path the economy takes, including a wide range of potential Brexit outcomes.
“We have used our stress test to ensure that the largest banks can continue to meet the needs of UK households and businesses even through a disorderly Brexit, however unlikely that may be.”
He added: “Our job, after all, is not to hope for the best but to plan for the worst.”
The governor made no reference to his cabinet briefing, in which he told ministers if the UK crashed out of the EU without a deal a sharp rise in mortgage rates could torped the housing market.
The bank held its monetary policy yesterday amid “greater uncertainty” over the Brexit process.
Read more: Bank of England leaves policy unchanged amid “greater uncertainty”on Brexit
Its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had raised its main interest rate – bank rate – on 2 August in only the second increase in the decade since the financial crisis.
Minutes from its September meeting said the outlook had become less clear in the six weeks since.