‘BoE may never regain trust it lost in crisis’

THE BANK of England may never be able to regain the trust it lost during the financial crisis, its chief economist has admitted.

Andy Haldane – who also sits on the Bank’s interest rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee – said the 2008 financial crisis was “hugely trust-busting” for those involved in money and finance, including the Bank of England.

“Even as the scars of the crisis heal, this trust deficit might not repair itself naturally,” he said during a question and answer panel hosted by the Royal Society of Arts in London.

“In other words, the trust deficit that those in money and finance face may be not cyclical, not temporary, but structural and permanent.

“And if that’s true, and it strikes me as plausible – more than plausible – then those of us within financial services, including central banks, will have to really go some to repair that deficit.”

Bank of England policymakers have been making efforts to engage with a wider UK audience in recent months as part of a bid to regain public confidence, in light of the fact that the financial sector has “historically done a very poor job” of explaining what it does and who it exists to serve, Mr Haldane said.

However, the chief economist said institutions such as the Bank of England were still in some cases justified in keeping some information from the public to prevent situations from worsening.