Bank of England is watching mortgage price war ‘like a hawk’

Sam Woods, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, has said that regulators are watching a mortgages price war “like a hawk” and may need to impose stricter minimum capital requirements on lenders. The price war over the past two years may be good news for first-time homebuyers, but it was less good for a bank or building society concentrated in mortgages, Mr Woods warned. The Bank has said “ring-fencing” rules designed to protect high street operations from risks taken in lenders' investment banking had contributed to the increased competition. His comments come after the Bank forced Metro Bank to correct how much capital it was setting aside to cover mortgages after under-reporting the risk from its loan book.

The Times (25/05/2019)