The new governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has warned City of London traders not to exploit the coronavirus crisis by betting against businesses that have been affected by it.

Discussing the recent steep falls in global markets caused by the Covid-19 outbreak in an interview with the BBC, Bailey, who took over from Mark Carney as governor on 16 March, said: “Anybody who says, ‘I can make a load of money by shorting’, which might not be frankly in the interest of the economy, the interest of the people, just stop doing what you’re doing.”