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The Court of Directors

The Bank of England Act 1998, which came into force on 1 June 1998, changed the constitution and duties of the Court of Directors from that set out in the previous Act of 1946, strengthening the Bank's governance and accountability, as well as formalising the Bank's responsibility for the conduct of monetary policy.

The Banking Act 2009 introduced a number of reforms to the governance of the Bank of England, including modernising the operations of Court reducing its size from 19 down to 12 members, of whom a majority must be non-executive and formalising the current arrangements.  The Chancellor of the Exchequer has designated Sir David Lees to Chair the meetings of Court.  

The Act provides for the appointment, by the Crown, of a Governor, two Deputy Governors and nine non-executive Directors.  The term of appointment for the Governor and two Deputy Governors is five years and for the Directors, three years, all of which are renewable.  This year though, some are initially appointed for different durations so as to stagger end dates and help ensure continuity.

Photographs and Involvements

Court meets a minimum of seven times in a calendar year, and its functions are to manage the Bank's affairs other than the formulation of monetary policy, which is the responsibility of the Monetary Policy Committee . This includes determining the Bank's objectives and strategy, ensuring the effective discharge of the Bank's functions , ensuring the most efficient use of the Bank's resources and to review the Bank’s strategy in relation to the Financial Stability Objective.

Under the Bank of England Act 1998, certain functions of Court are delegated to a sub-committee comprising the nine non-executive Directors of the Bank. This sub-committee is known as NedCo.

The delegated functions are:-

1. keeping under review the Bank's performance in relation to its objectives and strategy for the time being determined by Court;
2. monitoring the extent to which the objectives set in relation to the Bank's financial management have been met;
3. keeping under review the internal financial controls of the Bank with a view to securing the proper conduct of its financial affairs;
4. determining how the remuneration and pensions of the executive members of Court should be fixed;
5. keeping under review the procedures following by the Monetary Policy Committee, including determining whether the Monetary Policy Committee has collected the regional, sectoral and other information necessary for the purposes of formulating monetary policy;
6. determining the terms and conditions of the members of the Monetary Policy Committee who are appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mervyn Allister King, Esq. Governor (First appointed to Court 1 March 1990, appointed Executive Director 1 March 1991 and appointed Deputy Governor on 1 June 1998)
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 July 2003		Expiry date of appointment 30 June 2013
Charles Bean Deputy Governor, Monetary Policy
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 July 2008		Expiry date of appointment 30 June 2013
Paul Tucker Deputy Governor, Financial Stability
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 March 2009		Expiry date of appointment 28 February 2014
Brendan Paul Barber, Esq. General Secretary, Trades Union Congress
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 June 2003		Expiry date of appointment 31 May 2011
Roger Carr, Esq. Chairman of Centrica plc and Cadbury Schweppes plc
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 June 2007		Expiry date of appointment 31 May 2011
Sir David Lees Chair of Court
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 June 2009		Expiry date of appointment 31 May 2012
António Horta-Osório Chief Executive of Abbey National plc
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 June 2009		Expiry date of appointment 31 May 2012
Ms Susan Rice, FCIBS D.BA Chief Executive, Lloyds TSB Scotland plc and and Managing Director of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 June 2007		Expiry date of appointment 31 May 2011
Mark Tucker Group Chief Executive of Prudential plc
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 June 2009		Expiry date of appointment 31 May 2012
Lord Adair Turner Chairman, Financial Services Authority
	Date of first appointment in current position 20 September 2008		Expiry date of appointment 31 May 2012
Harrison Young Non-Executive Director of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia
	Date of first appointment in current position 1 June 2009		Expiry date of appointment 31 May 2011

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• Treasury Committee Hearings
  Evidence from The Court of Directors
• The Bank's Annual Report
  View the latest Report and Accounts
• Governance
  The current governance and accountability framework is set by the 1998 Bank of England Act

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