The Federal Reserve is also standing up programs to support the flow of credit to households, businesses, and state and local governments, so that they can weather this storm and continue to do their work, both now and when normal life resumes.7 Last week, we announced more details on these programs, which altogether provide additional funding of up to $ trillion.8 These programs are executed with the full support of the Treasury. We are also deeply committed to providing transparency around matters such as usage, eligibility, governance, vendor selection, and fees for these programs. The actions by the Federal Reserve, while sharing some similarities with those undertaken during the financial crisis, are specifically designed to deal with the unique economic challenges posed by the coronavirus. Our efforts supporting the provision of credit include a number of programs aimed at different 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  parts of the economy and work through different channels. One set of programs supports the availability of credit to businesses—importantly, including small and medium-sized businesses— through loans, commercial paper, and corporate bonds. The second set of programs targets the availability of credit to states and municipalities. But we cannot act alone: fiscal policy is also playing a critically important role. In particular, it can do what monetary policy cannot: provide for the public health response and transfer income to those most affected by the outbreak.
We are then using our existing frameworks to respond where necessary. We are disciplined. Just because something is new doesn’t mean it should be treated differently. Similarly, just because it is outside the regulatory perimeter doesn’t mean it needs to be brought inside. We apply consistent approaches to activities that give rise to the same risks regardless of whether those are undertaken by old regulated or new FinTech firms. Some of the most important questions we are considering include: -  Which FinTech activities constitute traditional banking activities by another name and should be regulated as such? 7  -  How could developments change the safety and soundness of existing regulated firms? -  How could developments change potential macroeconomic and macrofinancial dynamics including disruptions to systemically important markets? And  5  For further details on the New Bank Start-Up Unit, see: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/pra/nbsu/Pages/default.aspx For further detail on the work of our FinTech Accelerator see: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/Pages/fintech/default.aspx Systemic risks associated with credit intermediation including maturity transformation, leverage and liquidity mismatch should be regulated consistently regardless of the delivery mechanism. 6 7  4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  4  -  What could be the implications for the level of cyber and operational risks faced by regulated firms and the financial system as a whole? To illustrate some of the issues, consider how FinTech is affecting the financial services value chain (Figure 1).