A substantial part of bank lending in sterling takes the form of commercial bills (or acceptances), sometimes under facilities providing an option between acceptances and outright lending by way of loans or advances. In endorsing (or 'accepting') the bills, a bank undertakes to pay the amount due on maturity. The bills may then be sold at fine rates in the market, all the more so if the accepting bank is one of the 140 or so institutions whose bills are eligible for rediscount at the Bank of England. The total amount of sterling acceptances drawn by all sectors and outstanding at mid-February 1986 was £19.5 billion; acceptances represent some 10% of total outstanding bank lending in sterling to UK residents, nearly double the proportion of ten years earlier.
Official transactions in commercial bills shipbuilding paper and export credit paper