Bank of England

UK central bank founded by act of Parliament in 1694. It was entrusted with issuing bank notes in 1844 and nationalized in 1946. It is banker to the clearing banks and the UK government.

As the government's bank, it manages and arranges the financing of the public sector borrowing requirement and the national debt, implements monetary policy and exchange-rate policy by intervening in foreign-exchange markets, sets interest rates (from 1997), and supervises the UK banking system.

In September 2001, the Bank of England cut interest rates from 5% to 4.75%. The cut took rates to their lowest in 30 years.