Fraud office probes Bank of England auctions

PUBLISHED ON MAR 5, 2015 8:46 AM

The Bank of England, seen with a statue in the foreground, in London on Dec 16, 2014. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's Serious Fraud Office is investigating auctions by the Bank of England designed to inject cash into the banking system during the financial crisis, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The bank said it had commissioned an inquiry into "liquidity auctions during the financial crisis in 2007 and 2008", and had referred the results to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in November.

"Given the SFO investigation is ongoing, it is not appropriate for the Bank to provide any additional comment on the matter at this time," the bank said in a statement.

In November, Britain's Financial Times reported that the central bank was probing whether staff knew of or were involved in manipulating liquidity auctions.