Abstract

The essay aims to offer an analysis of the history of the Bank of England, from its foundation to the present day, and of the development of its role in the changing of the international currency system. The second part of the paper consists in an overview of the current structure of the Bank, as it emerges from the Labour’s reform of 1998 and the regulatory changes since the 2008 crisis, with particular regard to Bank’s independence and democratic accountability. The final section contains some remarks about the most relevant reform hypotheses in the debate at Westminster Parliament or still in the pre-parliamentary public debate.