Bank of England Gains Independence

Date: May 6, 1997 • Location: City of London, United Kingdom

The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history.

The Bank of England (BoE) is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one of the bankers for the government of the United Kingdom, it is the world's second oldest central bank, after Sweden's (1668). It is considered to be one of the world's "Big Four" central banks.