The perceived probabilities of a high-impact event in the British financial system over both the short- and medium-term have fallen to their lowest levels since 2008, said the Bank of England (BoE), or the central bank of Britain, on Monday.

According to the BoE's semi-annual systemic risk survey, only 8 percent of respondents now consider the probability of a high-impact event is high or very high over the next year, down 12 percentage point from last October. Some 24 percent of respondents expected a high-impact event between one and three years ahead, a 17 percentage point drop compared to that of half year ago.

Confidence in the Britain's financial system has picked up slightly, said BoE. Seventeen percent were completely confident or very confident in the stability of the country's financial system as a whole over the next three years, two percentage point higher than in October.

Seventy percent were fairly confident and only 13 percent of the respondents said they were not very confident, the survey showed.

The two main risks to the British financial system remain an economic downturn and sovereign - principally euro area - risk, cited by 79 percent and 76 percent of respondents respectively.

Some 39 percent of the respondents cited risks around regulation or taxes, with one in five respondents pointing to this risk citing the Financial Transactions Tax.

As part of its statutory objective to protect and enhance financial stability in Britain, BoE works to identify risks to the stability of the financial system. The Systemic Risk Survey has been undertaken biannually since 2009, following a pilot survey conducted in July 2008.

Xinhua