Furthermore, the stress on household finances is likely to increase as around 4 million mortgage borrowers10 see their monthly mortgage payments increase, including as borrowers roll off the current fixed term of their mortgages over 2023. What does this mean for mutuals’ credit portfolios? What I have outlined so far are potential early indicators of pressures to come. The credit data that PRA regulated firms report to us have not yet shown a significant increase in levels of arrears or defaults. These have typically remained at or below pre-Covid levels and only in Q1 2023 have started to show an uptick in areas like ‘new to arrears’. This 4 Supply matters − speech by Andrew Bailey | Bank of England 5 As at 19 April 2022 6 Monetary Policy Report - February 2023 | Bank of England 7 UK consumer confidence index 2023 | Statista 8 Credit Conditions Survey - 2023 Q1 | Bank of England 9 Financial Policy Summary and Record - March 2023 | Bank of England 10 Financial Stability Report - December 2022 | Bank of England  Bank of England  Page 4  uptick is not yet at a level that indicates a material amount of credit risk is crystallising, but rather I take it as a clear warning that firms need to take action now to be prepared both to support their customers and preserve their resilience should the stress that we are observing result in a marked deterioration in their credit portfolios.
Collectively, BSA members manage over £ of assets, nearly 15% of assets managed by the UK deposit takers we supervise at the PRA. Also, all 50 BSA members have headquarters outside London enabling a connection with local communities, some members of whom might not have other ways of accessing mainstream financial services. This is further fostered through a network of almost 1350 branches serving more than 26 million members. In line with this, we see our role in supervising BSA members as central to our mission at the Bank of England to ‘promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability’. My remarks today will focus on two areas. Firstly, a key challenge for the mutual sector to tackle over the coming year, managing a fast-evolving outlook for credit risk whilst supporting your members in the current economic climate. I will be setting out the PRA’s expectations and a flavour of what we are doing in this space. Secondly, the opportunity we are taking to evolve our regulatory regime to ensure it continues to deliver resilience in  1 Refrain, Lys Assia, 1956, Switzerland, winner. 2 3  Making your mind up, Bucks Fizz, 1981, UK, winner. Better the devil, Sonia, 1993, UK  Bank of England  Page 3  the sector, remains proportionate and supports growth, including in light of the Financial Services and Markets Bill which is currently making its way through Parliament.