Lender of last resort regimes must improve in wake of Credit Suisse

OMFIF | The core principles for the economy’s lender of last resort were passed down to us by Walter Bagehot, an English journalist, after London’s 1866 banking crisis. They are that central banks should make clear that they stand ready to lend early and freely (i.e. without limit), to sound firms, against good collateral and at rates higher than those prevailing in normal market conditions. But, a century and a half later, we cannot just leave it at that because our circumstances differ hugely from his. READ MORE