Nov 18 (Reuters) - Allowing the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending programs to sunset on December 31 could pose risks to financial markets, especially given that the pandemic is intensifying, Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin said on Wednesday. “Today most of them are operating as backstops; were the markets to worsen significantly, they would already be in place and ready to go, and perhaps they are creating some confidence,” Barkin said in an online event “You take them away, it’s not necessarily the case you’d have a big impact, but you do have, I’ll just say, an increased risk ... do you think we are far enough through this virus that we no longer need that? I’m not sure...the virus will be with us still for some time.” (Reporting by Ann Saphir Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)