10 Nov 2014Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England (BoE), has revealed that new standards are to be published for banks deemed ‘too big to fail’. He spoke in Switzerland in his capacity as chairman of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). During the financial crisis UK taxpayers spent billions saving the largest banks, a situation Mr Carney says must not happen again. He said: ‘Once implemented, these agreements will play important roles in enabling globally systemic banks to be resolved without recourse to public subsidy and without disruption to the wider financial system’. The new rules are dubbed a ‘bail in’ as banks must hold capital of at least 16-20% of their total assets, with additional funds based on how important they are to the financial system. The 30 banks referred to by Mr Carney are known as G-Sibs – designated to be ‘globally systemically important’. Under the new rules, a failing bank will convert its held capital into shares for its creditors, meaning that they are supporting the banks instead of the burden falling to the taxpayer.