The Bank of England on Wednesday told regulators to move fast to toughen rules for funds used by Britain's pension industry which nearly collapsed last year after former Prime Minister Liz's Truss's "mini-budget," Reuters reported. The BoE said Britain's banking system was not at risk from the kind of turmoil that has beset some banks in the United States and Switzerland's Credit Suisse. But the BoE's Financial Policy Committee called on the Pensions Regulator to act "as soon as possible" to mitigate the risks posed by liability-driven investment (LDI) funds.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on Tuesday that creditor hierarchy was a "cardinal principle" and in Britain additional tier one (AT1) bondholders would not be treated as they were in the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, Reuters reported. "In any resolution we will always abide by the code of hierarchy because that's a cardinal principle," he told a committee of lawmakers.

The Bank of England raised interest rates by a quarter-point on Thursday, its 11th consecutive rate increase, a day after data showed that Britain’s inflation rate unexpectedly increased last month, the New York Times reported. The central bank also affirmed that Britain’s banking system was “resilient” and able to withstand a period of higher interest rates, according to the minutes of this week’s meeting.

British inflation unexpectedly rose to 10.4% in February, pushed up by higher food and drink prices in pubs and restaurants, according to official data which is likely to prompt the Bank of England to raise interest rates on Thursday, Reuters reported. The figures - including increases in underlying inflation measures that the BoE closely monitors - are likely to bolster the concerns of those BoE policymakers who worry that inflation will be slow to fall, even after 10 straight rate hikes.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesperson on Tuesday urged lawmakers to back a major element of the new deal over post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, adding it was a good deal amid criticism from some Conservatives, Reuters reported. An influential group of eurosceptic Conservative lawmakers on Tuesday warned that the newly agreed 'Stormont brake" mechanism to prevent Northern Ireland being subject to unwelcome European Union laws was "practically useless".

The Bank of England sought to clarify its rules regarding the order in which shareholders and creditors should bear losses in the event of insolvency, in the wake of the controversial write-down of Credit Suisse Group AG’s riskiest bonds, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank said in a statement on Monday that additional tier 1 instruments, the securities rendered worthless as part of the UBS Group AG takeover, rank ahead of common equity tier 1 (CET1) and behind tier 2 (T2), a mix of reserves, hybrid instruments and junior debt.

Virgin Orbit has begun drawing up detailed contingency plans for its insolvency days after halting its operations and furloughing its workforce, SkyNews.com. Sky News has learned that the commercial space satellite venture founded by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is working with Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) and Ducera, two restructuring firms, on fallback plans in the event that it cannot secure new funding.

The British government ramped up its efforts to get more people into work and make Britain an enticing investment destination as it announced on Wednesday an expansion of free child care, extended household energy subsidies and bolstered business investment incentives, the New York Times reported. Amid double-digit inflation, rising interest rates and widespread labor strikes, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the Exchequer, detailed his plan to help Prime Minister Rishi Sunak keep the promise he made in January to expand the economy this year and pull it out of stagnation.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has shown the need to build a larger and more diverse financial system by bolstering the stock market and unlocking cash in pension schemes, Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Following the collapse of its parent company in the United States, Silicon Valley Bank's UK arm was sold to HSBC over the weekend to avoid disrupting its customers in Britain. SVB was heavily focused on lending to the technology sector. Fallout from the collapse continued to roil banking shares in Europe on Wednesday.