The Financial Policy Committee
The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) identifies, monitors and takes action to remove or reduce systemic risks with a view to protecting and enhancing the resilience of the UK financial system. The FPC also has a secondary objective to support the economic policy of the Government.
Members of the FPC
The FPC also gets a remit letter, typically annually, from the Chancellor. The Governor, on behalf of the FPC, sends a formal response to the Chancellor’s letter.
Remit and response letters
Financial Policy Committee meetings
The FPC usually meets four times a year.
We publish a record and a summary of its meetings twice a year. In addition, we publish a record of their meeting when we publish the Financial Stability Report twice year.
In March 2019, we replaced the FPC ‘statement’ with a ‘summary’. Before then we also published the FPC’s record around a week after their statement.
Records, summaries and statements
The Financial Stability Report
Twice a year, the FPC publishes a Financial Stability Report, which sets out the committee’s view on the main risks to financial stability and assesses how prepared the financial system is to withstand these risks.
The Financial Stability Report also summarises the FPC’s recent activities and assesses the impact of any actions it has taken.
Financial Stability Reports
The Financial Stability in Focus publication complements the Financial Stability Report and sets out the FPC’s view on specific topics related to financial stability.
Financial Stability in Focus
Stress testing
The FPC, alongside the Prudential Regulation Committee (PRC), contributes to the design and calibration of the Bank’s stress testing framework. Stress tests allow the FPC and the PRC to assess banks’ resilience and make sure they have enough capital to withstand shocks, and to support the economy if a stress does materialise.
Stress testing