Tweet Bank of England (BoE) official Andrew Haldane pointed out areas in which regulators should consider imposing limits and restrictions, among them the question of how much in assets a bank should be allowed to pledge to investors. Bloomberg reported Friday that Haldane, executive director for financial stability at BoE, raised the issues during an April 14 speech that will be published by the bank on April 24. Regarding limits on bank asset pledges, he said that investors worried about safety have caused an increased demand for secured finance. With more investors looking for collateral, he said, “The unsecured market has found itself squeezed. It results in banks’ balance sheets progressively becoming more encumbered.” Euro area banks must refinance approximately $1.1 trillion in 2012, he said, and most of that amount is unsecured. So far, he added, the portion of that money that has been refinanced in the unsecured market “has been minuscule”; in ... … Read entire article »