Bank of England

Owners

[ArdRi]

Who are the "real" owners of the Bank of England?

[Lord Majestic]

It's owned by the state (UK). In theory it is independent, in practice the Govt has got pretty big influence over it either via PM or the Chancellor.

[ArdRi]

I understand the Bank of England is privately owned by a number of banks, who are owned by individuals?

I also wonder why mortgage lenders in the UK are not under regulatory requirement to pass on interest rate cuts?

If the "national debt" in the UK didn't exist, the State would be able to reduce taxation quite a lot.

[Lord Majestic]

Bank of England is owned by the state, not private banks - it is not like Federal Reserve System in the USA.

There is no legal obligation to keep morgage rates inline with those set by the Bank of England because it is a market economy.

It is true that if national debt did not exist then some costs would have been removed, however it is very hard to cut it down - you will need to increase taxes to pay it off to have those taxes reduced, and no Govt will be elected with a promise of a huge tax hike like that.

[ArdRi]

If the Bank of England is really owned by the State, I wonder when did it come under State ownership?

When interest re-payments are made on the UK national debt, who gets the benefit of these payments? the State or private interests?

[Lord Majestic]

The debt is managed by the Government. When payments are made on this debt, however bought it gets the money - this could be private individuals, companies or even other Govts.

I think BoE has always been state owned, but I am not sure. I suggest you check appropriate site for BoE's history.

[ArdRi]

Thank you. I think some data in relation to my questions can be found in: Bank of England Acts 1946 and 1998.

The National Debt Act 1870 might be of some help as well.