Bank confirms pension funds almost collapsed amid market meltdown

Official explains how promise to buy up to 65bn of government debt staved off destructive UK financial spiral

Pension funds managing vast sums on behalf of retired people across Britain came close to collapse amid an unprecedented" meltdown in UK government bond markets after Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget, the Bank of England has said.

Explaining its emergency intervention to calm turmoil in financial markets last week, the central bank said pension funds with more than 1tn invested in them came under severe strain with a large number" in danger of going bust.