This season of bank panics may not be over

‘March madness’ was a tag applied with hindsight to last month’s scare provoked by the unconnected collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse. Nothing systemic there, said the wise men. But this week began with another rumble, as reputable US institutions, including State Street of Boston and the stockbroker Charles Schwab, reported large deposit outflows, while shares in others dived.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England was assessing whether to raise the state guarantee of bank deposits from its current £85,000 to avert social-media panics. But the problem is becoming circular: as interest rates rise, depositors are keener to move money around in search of higher yield. The bigger the state guarantee, the lower the risk of doing so –and the more exposed out-of-fashion banks will be to sudden outflows. No one ever knows where crowds will surge next, but this spring’s madness may not be over yet.

Not building back

I long ago stopped introducing myself as ‘Boris Johnson’s business editor’, though I believe I’m the only person on the planet ever to have held that title.