By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - Britain's No. 2
Treasury official said on Tuesday that he does not have any
immediate concerns about the execution of Switzerland's Credit
Suisse rescue by UBS but will monitor the deal closely,
reiterating that UK banks are "very resilient."
John Glen, chief secretary to the UK Treasury, told Reuters
on a stop in Washington that Britain's banks have not seen
deposit outflows in reaction to the failures of U.S. regional
lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Those collapses more than two weeks ago prompted many U.S.
depositors to shift billions of dollars from smaller and
regional banks to larger U.S. institutions for perceived safety.
"We've got a very resilient banking sector. Since the
(global financial) crisis 15 years ago, we took some pretty bold
measures and those have left us in a pretty good state," Glen
said, adding that he has "great confidence" in UK bank
regulation.
Glen declined to comment on the merits of the Swiss
government-backed takeover by UBS Group of troubled
rival Credits Suisse , saying that was a matter that a
sovereign government saw as "necessary."
"With respect to the Swiss authorities and what they've
done, I don't have any immediate concerns, but obviously, we
work closely with regulators to look at whether there could be
elements that we need to keep monitoring," he said.
He said this view extends to any impact on the City of
London, which has weathered a number of uncertainties in recent
years including over Brexit.
Glen said the recent global banking turmoil will not affect
the so-called Edinburgh Reforms which he helped craft last year
when he was the Treasury's city minister. The plan eases some
capital requirements for smaller banks and includes other
reforms to make London more competitive with New York and
Amsterdam in financial services.
"The fundamental reliability and security of financial
services in the UK is fundamentally a matter for our regulators
working with the Treasury," he said, adding that both are
"confident in the context that they find in the UK."
Pressures from rising interest rates will continue for the
banking sector and for the UK housing market, where many
homeowners are facing higher mortgage payments due to the
prevalence of adjustable rate loans, he said.
"The best thing that we can do as a government is work to
get inflation down," he said, which would ease the upward
pressures on interest rates.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
david.lawder.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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