Bank of England

The Bank of England has shocked the City by freezing its quantitative easing programme and keeping interest rates on hold.

The Bank of England is today set to announce plans to expand its "money printing" programme by a further £25 billion, taking the total to £150 billion, in an effort to force banks to step up lending to consumers and businesses.

The Bank of England's (BoE) latest Credit Conditions Survey has revealed lenders expect to make credit more readily available to households and businesses over the next three months, after increased lending over the last quarter.

The Bank of England has once again held interest rates at 0.5%, the third time it has frozen rates this year.

The Bank of England (BoE) has revealed that lending in the UK rose slightly over April, with the increase in total net lending to individuals standing at £1.3bn - higher than the March increase of £0.7bn.

The FSA was too focussed on its role as a consumer protector in the run up to the financial crisis and failed in its oversight of macro-prudential requirements, according to a House of Lords committee.

The Bank of England said today the recession had probably bottomed out, but warned that any recovery would be hampered by the ongoing reluctance of banks to lend to consumers and businesses.

The Bank of England has delivered a more gloomy prognosis for the UK economy, saying it is unlikely to grow again until the middle of next year.

There should be a greater level of "productive overlap" between the Bank of England and FSA on financial supervision, according to a Government report on regulatory reform.

Interest rates have been kept on hold at 0.5% by the Bank of England today.