Further details about the Bank of England weekly report and consolidated balance sheet data

View the data

Overview

The 2009 Banking Act removed the legal requirement for us to continue publishing a summary balance sheet showing our main assets and liabilities, which was known as the Bank Return. In 2012, Ian Plenderleith completed a review of our provision of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA). Regarding the future publication of the Bank Return, the review recommended that the Bank ‘should consider ceasing to do so at an appropriate time, in order to improve its ability to provide covert liquidity assistance in future.’ Our public response was to agree the recommendation and pledge to undertake further analysis.

On 30 June 2014, we announced that we intended to replace the Bank Return publication with the Weekly Report (Table B1.1.2). The Weekly Report provides data on all assets and liabilities generated through our monetary policy operations, and would typically disclose over 90% of our balance sheet by value. The information provided in the Weekly Report is augmented by the Bank of England consolidated balance sheet (Table B1.1.3). This is published quarterly, with a lag of five quarters, with data for other assets and liabilities, completing the full balance sheet. This balance sheet report is prepared under our accounting policies (listed in our Annual Report).

The final Bank Return was published on 25 September 2014, with the first Weekly Report published on 2 October 2014.

The Weekly Report is published each week on a Thursday for positions as at the previous day.

Further information on the market operations included in the Weekly Report can be found in the Bank of England Market Operations Guide.

The Bank of England consolidated balance sheet is published on the first Tuesday of each quarter.

Availability

Each Thursday, we publish the Weekly Report on our website. Each Monday, the latest Weekly Report data are added to the full time series on the Bank of England Database and data for the most recent periods are reproduced in Bank of England Weekly Report (Table B1.1.2). In addition, our contribution to the MFI consolidated balance sheet is published monthly in Table B2.2 of the same publication.

Bank of England Weekly Report (Table B1.1.2) replaced Central bank's balance sheet (Bank of England 'Bank return') Table B1.1.1 following the decision to replace the Bank Return with the Weekly Report. Consequently, the final observation in Central bank's balance sheet (Bank of England 'Bank return') Table B1.1.1 is as at 24 September 2014. The first publication of Bank of England Weekly Report (Table B1.1.2) was on 6 October 2014, and it contained some back data on a consistent basis. Consistent data for series not previously part of the Bank Return are available on the IADB for periods since September 2013.

On the first Tuesday of each quarter, we publish the consolidated balance sheet on our website. On the first Wednesday of each quarter, the latest consolidated balance sheet data are added to the full time series on the Bank of England Database and data for most recent periods are reproduced in Bank of England consolidated balance sheet Table B1.1.3.

Definitions

The Weekly Report and consolidated balance sheet include detail on:

Reserves balances

These are current account balances held by commercial banks and building societies at the Bank. We pay Bank Rate on reserve balances – a key part of the implementation of monetary policy. Reserve balances can be used by commercial banks to make payments and constitute a high quality liquid asset for them to hold. The sharp increase in reserves balances since March 2009 reflects the fact that asset purchases under our Monetary Policy Committee’s programme of quantitative easing have been financed by increasing reserves balances.

Short-term open market operations

These are amounts lent in Short- Term Repo operations.

Notes in circulation

This includes notes outside the Bank and higher-value notes used as cover for the note issue of banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Long-term operations

These are amounts lent in Indexed Long-Term Repo operations or under our Contingent Term Repo Facility. 

Term Funding Scheme with additional incentives for SMEs

These are aggregate drawings from the Term Funding Scheme with additional incentives for SMEs (TFSME), financed by the creation of central bank reserves.

Sterling-denominated bond holdings

These consist of gilts financed by our free capital and cash-ratio deposits.

Loans to Asset Purchase Facility

Since March 2009, the MPC has been using a subsidiary (the Bank of England Asset Purchase Facility Fund (BEAPFF)) to make purchases of assets in pursuit of its monetary policy aims. While the accounts of the fund are not consolidated with those of the Bank, the fund is financed by loans from the Bank. The loans account for the majority of the increase in 'other assets' since March 2009 in Central bank's balance sheet (Bank of England 'Bank return') (Table B1.1.1). 

Foreign currency public securities

We issue these to finance holdings of our own foreign currency reserves.

Foreign currency reserve assets

These are funded through our issuance of medium-term dollar bond securities and commercial paper. These assets consist of euro, US dollar, Canadian dollar and yen bond assets. We use derivative instruments to manage the currency and interest rate exposures that arise from the holding of these financial assets.

Valuation and breaks

Money Market reform

On 18 May 2006 we introduced a range of reforms relating to our money market operations. This altered both the structure and the size of our balance sheet. Consequently, there are some data series where the first observation for data is 24 May 2006.

Details on the changes made to our monetary policy operations can be found in the Statistics article 'The implications of money market reform for data published in Monetary and Financial Statistics'.

On 2 October 2014, we replaced the Bank Return with the new Weekly Report. The final observation for data in Central bank's balance sheet (Bank of England 'Bank return') (Table B1.1.1) was 24 September 2014 and the first observation for data in Bank of England Weekly Report (Table B1.1.2) was 1 October 2014. Details of these changes can be found in the Statistics articles ‘Changes to the Bank’s weekly reporting regime’ and in ‘Replacement of the Bank Return and changes to the release of notes and coin data’.

Further information

Changes to the Bank’s weekly reporting regime, Quarterly Bulletin article, 2014.
Replacement of the Bank Return and changes to the release of notes and coin data, Statistics article, 2014.
The implications of money market reform for data published in Monetary and Financial Statistics' Monetary and Financial Statistics, June, pages 18-19, Statistics article, 2006. 
The Framework for the Bank of England's Operations in the Sterling Money Markets (the 'Red Book')