Who owns the Bank of England?

Readers Question: Who owns the Bank of England?

The Bank of England is owned by the UK government.

From Bank of England website

“As a public organisation, wholly-owned by Government, and with a significant public policy role, the Bank is accountable to Parliament”

Bank of England

The Bank of England was set up by, ironically, a Scotsman – William Paterson. It was initially a private bank in 1694 acting as lender to the Government.

The Bank was given a Royal Charter, and in 1844, the Bank Charter Act gave the Bank of England sole right to issue notes and coins.

The Bank of England was nationalised in 1946. (Nationalisation means government takes ownership)

In 1997, the Bank of England was given independence over setting Monetary Policy.

Bank of England Website

Amusing Yahoo Answers – Who Own Bank of England?

  • – The Queen (source: history class),
  • The Saudis,
  • The public – so go help yourself …..

Update: For some reason, many people think the Bank of England is privately owned by the Rothschilds. (There is a similar conspiracy theory about the US Federal Reserve). I wrote to the Bank of England and asked for clarification. This was their reply.

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and was established as a corporate body by Royal Charter under the Bank of England Act 1694. The Bank was nationalised on 1 March 1946, and gained operational independence to set interest rates in 1997 (the Bank of England Act 1998 Part II sets out the responsibilities and objectives of the Bank in relation to monetary policy).

The Bank is a public sector institution, wholly-owned by the government, but accountable to Parliament. The entire capital of the Bank is, in fact, held by the Treasury solicitor on behalf of HM Treasury. Each year, the Bank is required to submit its Report and Accounts to Parliament, via the Chancellor of the Exchequer.  For more information you may be interested to see the Bank’s latest Report and Accounts, which can be found on our website at:

www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/annualreport/index.htm

As to the supposed ‘Rothschild’ connection, I don’t know why people should think that the family own us. But a number of the Rothschilds have served on the Bank’s Court of Directors over the years.

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