When the Treasury published a consultation document on financial stability at the start of the year, there seemed little in terms of structural changes to the Bank of England to frighten the Threadneedle Street horses.

A beefed-up depositor protection scheme and a new insolvency regime for banks lay at its heart. Proposed reforms to the Bank were minimal: its governing body, the Court, was to be slimmed down to a more manageable size; and its financial stability role was to be confirmed in legislation.