At its meeting on 22 March 2017, the Financial Policy Committee (FPC):
- Maintained the UK countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) rate at 0%. It reaffirmed its support for the clear supervisory expectation of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) that firms should not increase dividends and other distributions as a result of the UK CCyB rate being maintained at 0%.
- Considered that the following Recommendation that it had made to HM Treasury in September 2014 had been implemented by legislative action in April 2015 and December 2016:
- The FPC recommends that HM Treasury exercise its statutory power to enable the FPC to direct, if necessary to protect and enhance financial stability, the PRA and FCA to require regulated lenders to place limits on residential mortgage lending, both owneroccupied and buy-to-let, by reference to: a) loan to value ratios; b) debt to income ratios, including interest coverage ratios in respect of buy-to-let lending.
- Considered that the following Recommendation that it had made to the PRA in May 2016 had been implemented, following the PRA finalising its relevant policy in February 2017:
- The PRA should seek to ensure that, where systemic buffers apply at different levels of consolidation, there is sufficient capital within the consolidated group, and distributed appropriately across it, to address both global systemic risks and domestic systemic risks.
Financial Policy Committee record