Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, committed to the publishing of the minutes as requested by the Treasury Committee.
Mark Carney sees these minutes as a valuable insight for what was a turning point in the Bank’s history.
“The financial crisis was a turning point in the Bank’s history,” said the Governor of the Bank of England.
“The minutes provide further insight into the Bank’s actions during this exceptional period – the policies implemented to mitigate the crisis, the lessons that were learned, and how the Bank changed as a result.
“The Bank is committed to increased openness and transparency and these minutes, in combination with the other recent reviews, provide a complete record of the Bank’s activities during the crisis.”
At the time the Bank was operating within the statutory framework established in 1998 and the Court which was much larger than it is currently, encompassed members holding standing conflicts of interest. Also, the Bank had no powers in regards to employing action to manage macro-prudential risks.
According to the Bank of England, the roles in a crisis, of the Bank, the Treasury and the FSA were ill-defined at the time of these meetings, and these deficiencies were addressed in the 2009 Banking Act and 2012 Financial Services Act.
Chairman of the Court, Anthony Habgood, says these minutes highlight the importance of the role of the Court in making sure that the Bank is robustly governed.
“While successive reforms in recent years have significantly enhanced Court’s capability to hold the Bank’s executive management to account, there is scope to go further, with a simpler structure and a clearer commitment to accountability,” said Mr Habgood.
“As Chairman of the Bank’s Board, I will do my utmost to ensure that the Bank is open, accountable, trusted and above all, well-governed.”
The Bank is also publishing court minutes from 1914-1946 and Treasury committee minutes from 1914-1931 which is all part of their commitment to publish all Court minutes up to 1987 by May.
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