The Bank of England, formally the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based.

The Bank is one of eight banks authorised to issue banknotes in the United Kingdom, but has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales and regulates the issue of banknotes by commercial banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The current Governor of the Bank of England is Sir Mervyn King, who took over on 30 June 2003 from Sir Edward George.

As well as its London offices, the Bank of England also has offices in King Street, Leeds.

The sealing of the Bank of England Charter ( 1694 )

In order to induce subscription to the loan, the subscribers were to be incorporated by the name of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England.

He proposed a loan of £ 1. 2m to the government ; in return the subscribers would be incorporated as The Governor and Company of the Bank of England with long-term banking privileges including the issue of notes.

The Bank of England moved to its current location on Threadneedle Street, and thereafter slowly acquired neighbouring land to create the edifice seen today.

Sir Herbert Baker's rebuilding of the Bank of England, demolishing most of Sir John Soane's earlier building was described by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as " the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the twentieth century ".

The main Bank of England façade, c. 1980.

In 1977, the Bank set up a wholly owned subsidiary called Bank of England Nominees Limited ( BOEN ), a private limited company, with two of its hundred £ 1 shares issued.

According to its Memorandum & Articles of Association, its objectives are :- “ To act as Nominee or agent or attorney either solely or jointly with others, for any person or persons, partnership, company, corporation, government, state, organisation, sovereign, province, authority, or public body, or any group or association of them ....” Bank of England Nominees Limited was granted an exemption by Edmund Dell, Secretary of State for Trade, from the disclosure requirements under Section 27 ( 9 ) of the Companies Act 1976, because, “ it was considered undesirable that the disclosure requirements should apply to certain categories of shareholders .” The Bank of England is also protected by its Royal Charter status, and the Official Secrets Act.

BOEN has two shareholders: the Bank of England, and the Secretary of the Bank of England.

Tercentenary of the Bank of England, commemorated on a 1994 British two pound coin.

On 6 May 1997, following the 1997 general election which brought a Labour government to power for the first time since 1979, it was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, that the Bank of England would be granted operational independence over monetary policy.

In the event the rupees set aside for loans under Section 104 ( E ) of the Act are not advanced within six years from the date of this Agreement because the Export-Import Bank of Washington has not approved loans or because proposed loans have not been mutually agreeable to the Export-Import Bank of Washington and the Department of Economic Affairs of the Government of India, the Government of the United States of America may use the rupees for any purpose authorized by Section 104 of the Act.

Within sixty days after the receipt of notice that the Export-Import Bank is prepared to act favorably upon an application the Department of Economic Affairs will indicate to the Export-Import Bank whether or not the Department of Economic Affairs has any objection to the proposed loan.

Unless within the sixty-day period the Export-Import Bank has received such a communication from the Department of Economic Affairs it shall be understood that the Department of Economic Affairs has no objection to the proposed loan.

This has caused much controversy whether the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel is actually a " Nobel Prize "

According to a World Bank official, a country that has around 12 percent rate of growth or even lower, at the range of 7 to 8 percent, can afford a level of public debt of up to 50 percent.

One of the most famous contemporary buildings by an anthroposophical architect is ING House, an ING Bank building in Amsterdam, which has received several awards for its ecological design and approach to a self-sustaining ecology as an autonomous building and example of sustainable architecture.

In recent years, the Brazilian Development Bank ( BNDES ) has provided US $ 5 billion worth of loans to countries in the region.

As of 2007, the World Bank estimated that 26 % of the Burkinabé population has access to financial services.

The World Bank has identified key areas for potential growth, including the productivity of traditional crops and the introduction of new exports, light manufactures, industrial mining, and services.

Ownership has since been transferred to BOCHK, although the Bank of China has leased back several floors for use by its own operations in Hong Kong.

Since 1987 an illustration of the castle has featured on the reverse side of £ 100 notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Constitutional Modernisation has come to the forefront of politics recently with the collapse of the now defunct Euro Bank Corporation in 2003.

Evolving further partly in response to the European Central Bank, the People's Bank of China has by 2000 become a modern central bank.

Even the People's Bank of China has been accorded great latitude due to the difficulty of problems it faces, though in the People's Republic of China the official role of the bank remains that of a national bank rather than a central bank, underlined by the official refusal to " unpeg " the yuan or to revalue it " under pressure ".

The term Left Bank was first coined by film critic Richard Roud, who has described them as having " fondness for a kind of Bohemian life and an impatience with the conformity of the Right Bank, a high degree of involvement in literature and the plastic arts, and a consequent interest in experimental filmmaking ", as well as an identification with the political left.

* In mid-2009, Fleming was commemorated on a new series of banknotes issued by the Clydesdale Bank ; his image appears on the new issue of £ 5 notes.

A license typically allows the holder to carry one handgun, in some cases a long gun, and residents in certain settlements such as the West Bank are issued firearms by the government and given civil defense training.

In 2003, the Israeli government issued a plan for total withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the northern West Bank by late 2005.

From 1990 until 2003, Stephenson's portrait appeared on the reverse of Series E £ 5 notes issued by the Bank of England.

* The largest denomination banknote ever officially issued for circulation was in 1946 by the Hungarian National Bank for the amount of 100 quintillion pengő ( 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, or 10 < sup > 20 </ sup >; 100 million million million ) image.

Till today there are 26 circulars issued by Bangladesh Bank under this act.

A ten-mark bill featuring a portrait of Nurmi was issued by the Bank of Finland in 1987.

From 1981 to 1989, Robert the Bruce was portrayed on £ 1 notes issued by the Clydesdale Bank, one of the three Scottish banks with right to issue banknotes.

This campaign is commemorated by his continued appearance on the front of all notes issued by the Bank of Scotland.

The Bank issued its inaugural loan of $ 250 million ($ 2. 6 billion in 2012 dollars ) to France in 1947 to finance infrastructure projects.

The Bank issued its first loan for environmental improvements to Finland in 1975 to finance investments in combating water pollution.

In 2005, the Bank issued the first loan to Iraq in in 30 years to support education and the restoration of schools.

The Bank raised $ 29 billion USD worth of capital in 2011 from bonds issued in 26 different currencies.

Commencing operations on 25 June 1946, it approved its first loan on 9 May 1947 ( US $ 250M to France for postwar reconstruction, in real terms the largest loan issued by the Bank to date ).

Throughout the 1820s, small notes were issued by regional banks, which were finally restricted in 1826, while the Bank of England was allowed to set up regional branches.

Post of Slovenia has issued a stamp honouring Jurij Vega and the National Bank of Slovenia has issued a 50 tolar banknote in his honour.

Her 100th birthday was celebrated in a number of ways: a parade that celebrated the highlights of her life included contributions from Norman Wisdom and John Mills ; her image appeared on a special commemorative £ 20 note issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland ; and she attended a lunch at the Guildhall, London, at which George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, accidentally attempted to drink her glass of wine.

From 20 March 1981 until 1994, Wren's picture appeared on the reverse of Series D £ 50 banknotes issued by the Bank of England.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was to be commemorated on a new series of banknotes issued by the Clydesdale Bank in 2009 ; his image appeared on the new issue of £ 100 notes.

The essential function of the Bank was to regulate the public credit issued by private banking institutions through the fiscal duties it performed for the US Treasury, and to establish a sound and stable national currency.