The Old Lady’s not for talking: what is the Bank of England not telling us?

Mark Carney promised to make the Bank a more open place. But its behaviour over the Serious Fraud Office investigation is reminiscent of the bad old days

Maybe the Bank of England is still feeling its way. When the news broke last week that it faced its first investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street was reticent. A brief statement from the governor Mark Carney. No details. Not even an outline of the case.

Almost immediately speculation started, and with it the sense that once again the public was being presented with piecemeal disclosure about allegations of wrongdoing during the financial crisis. Not only was the Bank giving the appearance of an institution with something to hide, but there was a forceful reminder that parliament has never commissioned an all-embracing investigation of what went wrong before and after the Lehman Brothers collapse, or how various institutions dealt with the fallout.

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