Hot on the heals of Andrew Bailey’s speech, two announcements from the Bank of England revealed its concern about personal borrowing levels and the impact they could have on the nation’s economic prospects more generally.

First, the Bank’s June Financial Stability Report identified consumer lending as a “pocket of risk” and instructed banks to hold an extra £11.4bn in ‘countercyclical buffers’ to guard against related losses. It also flagged new measures from the PRA and FCA as soon as “next month” to make sure customers are able to repay their debts (code for the consultation paper on ‘affordability’).

Second, the Bank’s monthly Money and Credit report for May showed annual growth in consumer credit running at 10.3%, only slightly down from its peak in November 2016 (closer to 11%). These figures further sharpen the focus on ‘affordability’. The FCA remains vague on the timing of its consultation paper: its most recent update on 14 July still says ‘Timing TBC’.  But the two BoE announcements appear to have shortened the timeline.

We are in for a busy summer on multiple fronts!