Bank for International Settlements warns low interest rate policies may generate next global financial crisis

The international body representing central banks is warning its members that record low interest rates are generating conditions for another global financial crisis that may be worse than the first.

In its annual report, the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS) expressed serious concern that global share markets had reached new highs and the interest rate premium for many risky loans had fallen.

“Overall, it is hard to avoid the sense of a puzzling disconnect between the markets’ buoyancy and underlying economic developments globally,” the bank wrote.