Minutes of the Meeting of the Court of Directors held on 8 July 2020

Minutes

Minutes 8 July 2020

Misuse of the Bank of England's press conferences audio feed

In late November 2019, the Bank established that an audio feed of certain of the Bank’s Press Conferences had been misused by a third party supplier in order to supply services to clients of a related company for a subscription fee and without the Bank’s permission. 

The supplier’s use of the audio feed was wholly inappropriate and without authorisation. The Bank, therefore, took immediate action to ensure that the supplier played no further role in the Bank’s Press Conferences and referred the incident to the Financial Conduct Authority.

Whilst the Bank is confident that the contents of the Bank’s policy announcements (for example the Bank’s interest rate decisions) themselves were never compromised, the incident raised questions about the controls relating to the Bank’s Press Conferences. In December 2019, the Court of Directors of the Bank commissioned a review by the Bank’s Internal Auditor and Independent Evaluation Office into: (i) the incident; and (ii) the Bank’s relevant internal processes. 

The Review made a number of findings and recommendations as to how certain of the Bank’s relevant internal processes and procedures could be improved.

In the interests of transparency, the Bank is publishing the Findings and Recommendations of the Review, as well as the Bank’s response.