The Bank of England

Inangahua Times, 11 March 1937, Page 4

The Bank of England

i SlThe Labour Parly’s programme in Great Britain is a proposal to make the Bank of England a public institution instead of leaving it as at present, a private bank. Tbe Bank iof England is a private bank ; it I is at the same time a central bank, j and one which with the sole exf ception of the regulations as to its note-issuing powers, is practically independent of all Government con- . trol. Its capital amounts to £14,500,000, divided among 14,000 shareholders. Anyone can bo a shareholder —even a foreigner, or a financial house. There no risk, however, of ibe control of the bank j passing into the hands of foreigners . or of other banks, owing to the fact J that each shareholder, wuo must j have a minimum of £SOO stock in ! order to vote, has only one vote 1 even if be controls of stock. «Ir would, therefore, require the 1 deliberate organisation of a very I large number of shareholders to gain the control. The owners of £SOO of tbe stock of tbe Bank of England are, in theory at least able to control | its destinies. r This latter is in practice carried out by a board of directors and by ' committees. The board of directors, known as the Court of the Bank of i England, is composed of a governor, ’ deputy-governor, and 24 members, j A certain number of directors retire at tbe end of each financial year. By courtesy it is usually the younger members who resign, and equally usually they are re-elected automatically. It is, however, an old established custom that there shall be a majority of the court who, over a term of years, have acquired some considerable experience in the affairs iof tbe bank. Sir Montagu Norman I has been elected governor of tbe , bank since 1919. As it handles Government business in times of I crisis, the Bank of England has the ! support of the Government, which, jof course, means the financial resources of the country.