The Treasury put out a statement on Sunday morning stating the government and Bank were “treating this issue as a high priority” and were aware of the “significant impact” the collapse could have on “the liquidity of the tech ecosystem”.
But with nothing confirmed, contingency plans were being drawn up in parallel. One of these was the possibility that the Bank would have to offer some kind of assurance to protect companies in the interim. By the time Mr Sunak touched down in the US, shortly after midnight UK time, HSBC had become a clear option and the goal shifted to confirming a sale before the FTSE opened at 8am on Monday. Officials feared a wider market sell off if an announcement was not made before then.
In spite of the bank’s collapse, both city insiders and the Government remain confident that it will not result in contagion across the tech sector.