Fast-forward to present day and recent market turmoil following the ex-chancellor’s mini-budget-come-fiscal-event means that credit defaults are widely expected to increase, in both the retail and commercial lending sectors.
Despite the new chancellor’s actions to reassure and stabilise the market, five-year gilt yields remain more than 2 per cent higher than in July. And the latest credit conditions survey from the BoE did not provide much comfort.
And concerns over the turmoil led to the Financial Conduct Authority asking banks and advisers how they plan to step up and support struggling mortgage borrowers.
What did the survey show, and what does it mean for the mortgage market?
The biggest change highlighted by the survey is the reduction in new mortgages for house purchases, which is expected to continue in the next quarter.
At the same time, the demand for remortgaging is expected to continue to increase, which will be a challenge for homeowners as higher mortgage rates will put additional pressure on people already feeling the financial squeeze.
There are steps that banks and other lenders can, and should, be taking to mitigate risks and the impact of shocks.
Given this, combined with increased volatility and interest rates since the survey, I expect future defaults to be even higher than previously expected. All of this ultimately highlights the importance of improving market resilience and lenders preparing for a credit downturn.
How can banks and other lenders mitigate risks?
There are steps that banks and other lenders can, and should, be taking to mitigate risks and the impact of shocks, as well as to support customers dealing with the financial volatility and higher interest rate environment.
You only have to look at the financial landscape over the past two decades to know, with some certainty, that turmoil of some degree is inevitable.
While it is challenging to predict exactly when times of turmoil will occur, it is possible, and advisable, to get on the front foot as much as possible to minimise the impact – both to the lender and to its customers.
Dust off scale-up plans for pre-arrears, collections, recovery and restructuring activities that were developed during the initial stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
There are three steps that should be considered:
1. Develop forward-looking scenario-based analytics to understand the impact of cost shocks, for example energy prices and interest rates, to customer economics.
Doing so both helps to inform new lending decisions and identifies customers most at risk.
