Bank of England launches £50 billion sterling bank liquidity scheme to unfreeze London credit markets; Key 3-month Libor inter-bank rate fell slightly
Apr 21st, 2008 | By Finfacts Ireland Business & Finance Portal | Category: News worldwide
The Bank of England today launched a £50 billion sterling scheme to allow banks to swap temporarily their high quality mortgage-backed and other securities for UK Treasury Bills, in one of the biggest moves by the central bank since the onset of the global credit crisis last August. BoE Governor Mervyn King said banks using the scheme, backed by the UK government, were not being "bailed out" by the taxpayer.