61.6bn Loans to banks

Dear Mr Leaton

We acknowledge receipt of your email dated 25 November (our ref FF
23708). We will reply in due course.

If you have any queries please contact the Bank's Public Information and
Enquiries Group on 020 7601 4878.

Public Information and Enquiries Group

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Dear Mr Leaton

Thank you for your email dated 25 November requesting access to
information under the Freedom of Information Act (*FoI Act*).

You refer to *secret loans to banks of £61.6bn* made by the Bank and ask
for details of the *recipient of the loans, when the loan was taken out,
when the loan was repaid, the size of the loan, and the interest rate
paid*.

Firstly I would like to point you to the statement provided by the Bank to
the Treasury Committee on 24 November 2009 concerning the Emergency
Liquidity Assistance (*ELA*) extended by the Bank to RBS and HBOS in the
autumn of 2008, which provides information about the transactions. The
statement notes that *total use of ELA across both banks peaked at
£61.6bn on 17 October* last year. The statement can be viewed at:

[1]www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/other/treasurycommittee/financialstability/ela091124.pdf

May I also direct you to the answers to Parliamentary Questions (PQ)
recently asked on this subject. In response to questions from Peter Bone
MP and Dai Davies MP, the Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury
noted that *The rate charged to the two banks was a penal rate, broadly
equivalent to a cost of funds around 2 per cent. above the equivalent
market funding rate.* The questions and answers can be viewed at the
following links:

- House of Commons Hansard (8 December) Columns 253W-254W, [PQ 302697] and
[PQ 302987].

[2]www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm091208/text/91208w0017.htm#091208113000006
and

[3]www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm091208/text/91208w0018.htm

Any additional information held by the Bank which may be relevant to the
subject matter of your request falls outside the scope of the FoI Act.
This is because, unlike other public authorities, Parts I to V of the FoI
Act (including the general right of access under section 1) do not apply
to information held by the Bank for the purposes *of its functions with
respect to... financial operations intended to support financial
institutions for the purposes of maintaining stability* (see section 7 and
the Bank of England entry in Schedule 1, Part VI FoI Act). The
information which you have requested, insofar as it may be held by the
Bank, is covered by this provision.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Allen

Deputy Secretary of the Bank

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