Sir Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England

The COVID-19 crisis has placed major pressures on the UK economy, which shrank 20.4 per cent in April – a record contraction.

The Bank of England, in accordance with its role to ensure UK monetary and financial stability, has responded quickly to the pandemic, putting in place a package of measures aimed at supporting households and businesses, helping the economy recover, and keeping the financial system safe and stable. This includes cuts to interest rates, further quantitative easing, and a cut to the counter-cyclical capital buffer.

In May, the Bank published its quarterly Monetary Policy Report alongside an interim Financial Stability Report, providing a scenario for the path of the UK economy in the light of COVID-19, and assessing the financial system’s resilience to that scenario.

Since then, in June, the Bank announced it will increase the size of its bond-buying programme and pump an additional £100 billion into the UK economy.

In a briefing for Asia House Corporate Members, Sir Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, will discuss these measures and their impact, and how he envisages the UK’s economic recovery playing out.

Sir Jon became Deputy Governor of the Bank of England in November 2013. He has specific responsibility within the Bank for financial stability, for the supervision and oversight of financial market infrastructures and payment systems, and for international. He is a member of the G20 Financial Stability Board Steering Committee and is Chair of the Bank for International Settlements Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures.

Before joining the Bank, Jon was the UK Permanent Representative to the European Union. Prior to that, he was the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Europe and Global Issues and the UK Sherpa for the G8 and G20 and the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary responsible for EU coordination. From 2002 to 2007, Jon served as Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury, Managing Director of the Macroeconomic and International Finance Directorate.

For more information, please contact Edward Danks at edward.danks@asiahouse.co.uk.