![]() Seal of the Bank of England ![]() The Bank of England building | |
Headquarters | Threadneedle Street, London, England, United Kingdom |
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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 | 5%[2] |
Website | www |
This article is part of a series on |
Politics of the United Kingdom |
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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]
BoEStability
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).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.
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