 Seal of the Bank of England  The Bank of England building | |
| Headquarters | Threadneedle Street, London, England, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°30′51″N 0°05′19″W / 51.5142°N 0.0885°W |
| Established | 27 July 1694 |
| Governor | Andrew Bailey (since 2020) |
| Central bank of | United Kingdom |
| Currency | Pound sterling GBP (ISO 4217) |
| Reserves | US$101.59 billion[1] |
| Bank rate | 4.75%[2] |
| Website | www |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Politics of the United Kingdom |
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 United Kingdom portal |
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The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one of the bankers for the Government of the United Kingdom, it is the world's eighth-oldest bank.
The bank was privately owned by stockholders from its foundation in 1694 until it was nationalised in 1946 by the Attlee ministry.[3] In 1998 it became an independent public organisation, wholly owned by the Treasury Solicitor on behalf of the government,[4] with a mandate to support the economic policies of the government of the day,[5] but independence in maintaining price stability.[6] In the 21st century the bank took on increased responsibility for maintaining and monitoring financial stability in the UK, and it increasingly functions as a statutory regulator.[7]
The bank's headquarters have been in London's main financial district, the City of London, since 1694, and on Threadneedle Street since 1734. It is sometimes known as "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street", a name taken from a satirical cartoon by James Gillray in 1797.[8] The road junction outside is known as Bank Junction.
The bank, among other things, is custodian to the official gold reserves of the United Kingdom (and those of around 30 other countries).[9] As of April 2016[update], the bank held around 5,134 tonnes (5,659 tons) of gold, worth £141 billion. These estimates suggest that the vault could hold as much as 3% of the 171,300 tonnes of gold mined throughout human history.[10][a]
- ^ Weidner, Jan (2017). "The Organisation and Structure of Central Banks" (PDF). Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ "Interest rates and Bank Rate". www.bankofengland.co.uk. 14 December 2023.
- ^ "House of Commons Debate 29th October 1945, Second Reading of the Bank of England Bill". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 29 October 1945. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2012.; "Bank of England Act 1946". June 1998. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- ^ "Freedom of Information – disclosures". Bank of England. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
- ^ "The Bank of England Act 1998" (PDF). Bank of England. 2015. p. 50. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
- ^ 1 June 1998, The Bank of England Act 1998 (Commencement) Order 1998 Archived 11 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine s 2.; "BBC On This Day – 6-1997: Brown sets Bank of England free". 6 May 1997. Archived from the original on 7 March 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2014.; "Bank of England – About the Bank". Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2014.; "Bank of England: Relationship with Parliament". Archived from the original on 8 July 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
BoEStabilitywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Bank of England, "Who is The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street? Archived 15 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 15 January 2018.; Allan C. Fisher Jr. (June 1961). ""The City" - London's Storied Square Mile". National Geographic. 119 (6): 735–778.
Traditionally this men's club looks to a feminine leader, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street. A cartoon of 1797 depicted the Bank of England as a rich dowager sitting atop a money box, and the name stuck.
- ^ Belton, Pádraig (19 April 2016). "The city with $248 billion beneath its pavement". bbc.com. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
- ^ Prior, Ed (1 April 2013). "How much gold is there in the world?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).