A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Bank of England: The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom. The Bank is committed to promoting and maintaining monetary and financial stability as its contribution to a healthy economy. As well as providing banking services to its customers, the Bank of England manages the UK’s foreign exchange and gold reserves.
The Bank has two core purposes – monetary stability and financial stability. The Bank is perhaps most visible to the general public through its banknotes and, more recently, its interest rate decisions. The bank has the statutory responsibility for setting the UK’s official interest rate.
Interest rates decisions are taken by the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. The MPC has to judge what interest rate is necessary to meet a target for overall inflation in the economy. The inflation target is set each year by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Bank implements its interest rate decisions through its financial market operations. The Bank has close links with financial markets and institutions. This contact informs a great deal of its work, including its financial stability role and the collation and publication of monetary and banking statistics.
