David Ramsden: The evolution of the Bank's approach to resolution
Speech by Sir David Ramsden, Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking of the Bank of England, at King's College, London, 14 January 2026.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
Good afternoon. I am delighted to be here and thank you to the Money Macro and Finance Society and King's College London, two bodies I have a close affiliation with, for hosting me today.
For the avoidance of doubt, given we are at the start of a new year, the resolution I'm going to be focused on today is the one that makes a key contribution to financial stability by ensuring that banks and other financial institutions can be allowed to fail in an orderly way. The resolution which ensures the ongoing provision of critical financial services, the protection of customer deposits and reduced reliance on public funds.
But there is a link to the other resolution more typically committed to at this time of year. In focusing on how the Bank of England's (the Bank's) approach to resolution has evolved in the period since the failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) UK and Credit Suisse in March 2023, I want to highlight that a common theme, or goal, of the Bank's evolving approach to resolution has been to be as responsive as possible. For me responsiveness now sits alongside credibility, feasibility and effectiveness, the key themes I set out in my last Resolution-focused speech, as one of the key goals of our approach as the UK's resolution authority.
That responsiveness takes different forms. In the last 2 years, we have been responding to the events of 2023. In the resolution of SVB UK public funds were not exposed to loss. And the failure of Credit Suisse, a Global Systemically Important Bank (GSIB), did not lead to contagion into the UK financial system. But we learned lessons from our response, from putting our playbooks into action – particularly in relation to the need for inherent flexibility.