As one measure of this concern, the number of loans approved for housing in the United Kingdom in October was 65 per cent lower than a year earlier, and about 50 per cent lower than during the downturn of the early 1990s.
The immediate need is to keep ample liquidity, strengthen banks’ balance sheets by adding capital and to help confidence, including by lending the strength of the sovereign’s credit rating where necessary. All this has been occurring.