Bank of England scraps closed-door briefings with banks

The Bank of England has scrapped holding private meetings with banks and financial institutions in a bid to raise transparency at the central bank.

The shift in position comes after pressure on the world’s leading central banks to stop hosting off the record briefings with banks mounted following European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane disclosing unpublished inflation forecasts at one such event.

The news was first reported by Reuters.

Briefings between financial institutions and the Old Lady have been used as an information sharing exercise to enable the Bank to improve its understanding of the main trends driving financial markets.

The Bank makes details of the meetings available to the public through the schedules of members of its rate setting committee.

Briefings with individual banks over the monetary policy outlook will cease. However, the BoE will maintain regular contact with banks in its role as Britain’s financial system regulator.

Fed chair, Jerome Powell, regularly holds meetings with Wall Street chiefs. However, these tend to touch on non-policy matters.

The ECB has faced calls to end its own private meetings with financial institutions.