David Bailey: Responsible openness - the Prudential Regulation Authority's approach to supervising banks

Speech by Mr David Bailey, Executive Director for International Banks Supervision of the Bank of England, at the Bank of England hosted webinar, 11 January 2021.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Introduction

Welcome. I am delighted that so many of you could join us today.

I started my role as Executive Director for International Banks Supervision in late 2019. I took on the role, in part, because of the wide variety of firms I would be supervising, the diversity of cultures I would be interacting with, and the promise of travel to exotic locations. The role has delivered in many respects – although given the events of the last year, the travel has been somewhat disappointing. While my travel guides are left unread, my videoconferencing systems guide has many worn pages.

One clear lesson I have taken away from talking to such a variety of institutions remotely, is the value of simple and clear communications. So today I will be giving you the headlines from our Supervisory Statement published today that sets out the PRA's approach to supervising international banks.

It sets out publicly, for the first time, our approach to subsidiaries and combines that with the approach set out in our existing Supervisory Statement on branches (SS1/18).