Bond yields reversed their movements from the early part of the pandemic, with 10 year US treasury yields rising by 65 bps in this period and 10 year gilt yields moving 64 bps higher. Bid-offer spreads on US treasuries widened by a factor of 10. The gold price fell by 12%. Investors suddenly looked to redeem from money market funds (MMFs). Sterling MMFs saw outflows of 11% in just over a week. Similar outflows were seen in the US prime MMFs. This self-reinforcing dynamic was broken by massive central bank intervention. On 19 March, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) announced the stock of asset purchases would increase by £ of gilts. We also launched special repo operations (the Contingent Term Repo Facility), a 1/6  BIS central bankers' speeches  credit scheme (the Covid Corporate Financing Facility), extended term credit to banks (the Term Funding Scheme with additional incentives for SMEs) and joined other major central banks in activating the swaplines. In the US, amongst other actions, the Federal Reserve announced a $ asset purchase program, quintupled its repo operations (from $ to $ and established a temporary repo facility for international authorities with a view to support treasury market functioning. In Europe, the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme was put in place to purchases eligible assets up to € As a result, order returned to financial markets and subsequently the growing realisation that governments would step in to limit economic damage further restored confidence. What lesson should we learn from that episode?
Much of the Basel Committee’s work on big “ideas” that respond to the shortcomings in the regulatory framework identified by the financial crisis is reaching the end stage. The capital rules are set (and, in an increasing number of jurisdictions, coming into force), and the revisions to the LCR have recently been agreed. In 2013, we will seek to set out the specification of the backstop leverage ratio, and the NSFR will be refined between now and the end of 2014. Clearly, we still have work to do, but increasingly it is about getting the technical details correct rather than new far-reaching ideas. Even when the Committee’s policy response to the crisis is complete, much more work will still be needed. Implementation needs to be seen as an integral part of the reform agenda, not a sideline activity. As we examine this issue to a depth that it has not previously been examined, we will inevitably find things that need improvement. Turning a blind eye to these, as may have occurred in the past, is not an option – we need to persevere and find those areas where additional modifications to the regulatory framework are needed to ensure it is effective. If we do not work to improve implementation, we will not embed the reforms into domestic banking systems in the full, timely and consistent manner that is in everyone’s interests. BIS central bankers’ speeches  7