Bank of England

Bank of England   (Central bank)
Formation	1694
Headquarters	Threadneedle Street, London, United Kingdom
Leaders	• Governor of the Bank of England • Director of the Bank of England
Type	commercial
Subpage	•Bank of England/Deputy Governor •Bank of England/Director •Bank of England/Governor

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based.

History

Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, the Bank of England is the world's eighth-oldest bank with its headquarters in London's main financial district, the City of London. It was privately owned by stockholders from its foundation until it was nationalised by Clement Attlee's Labour government in 1946.

Gold holding

Czechoslovakia 1939

Sky News reported in 2013 that the Bank of England on 21st of March 1939 moved gold from an account of Czechoslovakia at the BIS, after the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938 and March '39 invasion of the Czech lands, over to an account held by the Reichsbank of Germany.

Venezuela 2018

Reuters reported in November 2018 that the Maduro government is seeking to bring 14 tonnes of gold held in the Bank of England back to Venezuela. The Bank of England did not fulfill the request and was asking for explanations why the country wants the gold back, citing concerns that Mr. Maduro "may seize the gold, which is owned by the state, and sell it for personal gain.

Inflation target

On 6 May 1997, following the 1997 General Election that brought a Labour government to power for the first time since 1979, it was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, that the Bank of England would be granted operational independence over monetary policy. Under the terms of the Bank of England Act 1998 (which came into force on 1 June 1998) the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was given sole responsibility for setting interest rates to meet the Government's Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation target of 2.5%.

The target has changed to 2% since the Consumer Price Index (CPI) replaced the Retail Prices Index as the Treasury's inflation index. If inflation overshoots or undershoots the target by more than 1%, the Governor of the Bank of England has to write a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining why, and how he will remedy the situation.

Independent central banks that adopt an inflation target are known as Friedmanite central banks. Inflation targets combined with central bank independence have been characterised as a "starve the beast" strategy creating a lack of money in the public sector.

On 3 August 2023, Richard Murphy tweeted:

The Bank of England’s inflation target is 2% but no one knows why. There is no evidence to justify that figure.

3% or 4% might work just as well. What that means is that the economy is being wrecked to achieve a meaningless goal.

Why, oh why?

Government debt

In July 2023, the Bank of England estimated it will require the Treasury to transfer a total of £150bn by 2033 to cover expected losses on the central bank’s quantitative easing programme, up from a previous calculation of £100bn.

On 28 July 2023, Richard Murphy tweeted:

"The Bank of England owns £800bn or so of government debt.

"If it sells it now it will lose £150bn.

"If it keeps it until it’s due for repayment it will lose next to nothing.

"So why is it so keen to sell?

"Could it be that it wants to use these losses to force austerity on the government?"

Paul Trainor responded:

"It does Richard.

"Austerity has been used as monetary weapon before.

"In fact back to 60 WASPI can tell you that!

"What strings is the USA pulling?

"Gordon Brown the Bountiful sold gold at the behest of the USA.

Hector Wetherell McNeill added:

"He (Gordon Brown) also substituted the British electorate with banks and hedge funds as the main constituency of the Bank of England as shown on the power diagram below."

 

Employees on Wikispooks

Employee	Job	Appointed	End
Dido Harding	Non Executive Director	September 2014
Dennis Weatherstone	Member of The Board of Banking Supervision	1995	2001

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Brexit is the villain in accidental death of the economy	Article	6 August 2023	William Keegan	The Brexit miscreants who conned the nation just carry on shamelessly, while their replacements, Rishi Sunak and co, take up the banner and Keir Starmer, once a noble remainer, offends his natural followers by ruling out rejoining the EU or even the single market.

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