by Marc Horne

Senior News Reporter

January 16, 2026

from TheTimes Website

 

 

 

 

Helen McCaw has written to

Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England

 

 


A former analyst at the central bank

has urged governor Andrew Bailey

to put contingencies in place

to prevent collapse

if alien life is confirmed...

 



The Bank of England must plan for a financial crisis being triggered by an official announcement confirming the existence of alien life, one of its former policy experts has claimed.

Helen McCaw served as a senior analyst in financial security at the UK's central bank, preparing for events that could impact the economy.

She has now written to Andrew Bailey, the Bank's governor, urging him to organize contingencies for the possibility that the White House may one day confirm we are not alone in the universe.

McCaw, a Cambridge graduate, believes a declaration of that magnitude would send shockwaves through the markets and could trigger bank collapses and civil unrest.

Until recently, suggestions that governments were covering up the existence of alien life were limited to a small coterie of 'conspiracy' theorists (sic) and UFO activists.

 

However, a host of senior American officials, including,

...have recently indicated their belief in the possibility of intelligent non-human life.

 

Rubio, a close ally of President Trump, told the makers of the recently released UFO documentary The Age of Disclosure:

"We've had repeated instances of something operating in the airspace over restricted nuclear facilities, and it's not ours."

 

Marco Rubio
SAUL LOEB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES



Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

speaks at a Senate Committee

on Armed Services confirmation hearing.
Kirsten Gillibrand
ELIZABETH FRANTZ/REUTERS

 

This month, The Sunday Times disclosed previously classified state files, which showed that the British military sought to obtain "extraterrestrial" technology after receiving credible intelligence that UFOs appeared to be real and could outperform any known human craft.

 

McCaw, who worked for the Bank of England for ten years until 2012, insists that politicians and bankers can no longer afford to dismiss talk of alien life and snigger about "little green men".

"The United States government appears to be partway through a multi-year process to declassify and disclose information on the existence of a technologically advanced non-human intelligence responsible for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs)," she claimed.

 

"If the UAP proves to be of non-human origin, we may have to acknowledge the existence of a power or intelligence greater than any government and with potentially unknown intentions.

 

"It is entirely possible that government leadership and their central banks have not been properly briefed on the topic.

 

UAP disclosure is likely to induce ontological shock and provoke psychological responses with material consequences."

 

Simon Pegg in Paul (2011).

Suggesting the possibility of intelligent alien life

has moved beyond the realms of conspiracy theorists
ALAMY

 

 

McCaw added:

"There might be extreme price volatility in financial markets due to catastrophising or euphoria, and a collapse in confidence if market participants feel uncertain on how to price assets using any of the familiar methods.

"There might be a rush to perceived safe assets such as physical gold, other precious metals and some types of government bonds.

"Alternatively, precious metals might lose their status as perceived safe assets if people speculate that new space-faring technologies will soon increase the supply of precious metals.

"There might be a rush to digital currencies such as Bitcoin, which may prove appealing if people question the legitimacy of government and lose trust in government-backed assets."

McCaw said the authorities should also prepare for unrest and an unprecedented run on the banking system.

"If there is an official announcement and we get presented with very clear evidence that nobody is going to dispute, I would say that in a matter of hours, you are going to have total financial instability," she said.

"If banks start failing, the payment system will collapse, and you'll have rioting on the streets because people can't fill their cars up with fuel or buy food in the supermarket."

"Even if you feel it's very unlikely, it's madness not to consider it and plan accordingly..."

McCaw has written a chapter on the subject for an upcoming book edited by Dr Alex Wendt, a professor of international security and political science at Ohio State University.
 

 

McCaw believes that authorities

should prepare for an unprecedented run

on the banking system
MAJA SMIEJKOWSKA/REUTERS



She had little interest in the subject of UFOs until she stumbled upon a peer-reviewed NASA paper, entitled Unidentified Flying Objects in Classical Antiquity, written by the astronomer and planetary scientist Dr Richard Stothers in 2007.

"I just thought it was a Hollywood thing and that it was only backwards people that saw them," she said. "I didn't know that governments were studying them."

McCaw, who has worked in wealth management and financial technology since leaving the Bank, accepts her beliefs will attract derision.

"A lot of friends just think it's absolutely crazy," she said. "Sadly, there's just no point in talking to them about it because they won't even look at the information that's out there."

"My husband was really skeptical at first, but he now realizes that this is a really serious issue."

She added:

"I sent quite a lot of information to a friend from the Bank of England.

 

He said:

'Helen, I believe you, but I hope I don't have to live in a world where this comes out'.

"I can understand why people would prefer to live in comfortable ignorance, but it's frustrating."

While keen to promulgate her views, McCaw will not accept invitations to appear on specialist UFO podcasts.

"The whole UFO community is just a bit Wild West," she said. "I don't need to convince people who already know this is real, that it's real."

"What I need to do is try to help to get government people briefed."

In 2021, Barack Obama suggested that UFOs appeared to be real, but said their origin, whether man-made or otherwise, was unclear.

"What is true, and I'm actually being serious here, is that there's footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don't know exactly what they are, we can't explain how they moved, their trajectory," he told news network CBS.

In November, Dan Farah, the American film and documentary director and producer, told The Guardian:

"I think it is only a matter of time before a sitting US president steps up to the podium and tells the world that we are not the only intelligent life in the universe."

The Bank of England declined to comment.