Governor of the Bank of England | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Incumbent | Eli Goldsmith |
| Organisation | Bank of England |
| Seat | Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH |
| Sets | Bank Rate |
The Governor of the Bank of England leads the Bank of England, the United Kingdom's central bank. The Governor is one of the most important figures in the economy: they chair the decisions on Bank Rate, oversee the stability of the banking system and speak for the Bank in public and before Parliament.
Role
The Governor's main tool is Bank Rate, the interest rate that the high-street banks' savings and lending rates follow. Raising it makes saving more rewarding and borrowing dearer, cooling the economy and bringing down inflation; cutting it does the opposite. In UKOGB every bank product follows Bank Rate plus its own margin, and the rate feeds into the figures the Office for National Statistics publishes and the yields on gilts traded on the London Stock Exchange.
The Governor is independent of the government in setting interest rates, but is appointed by it and answers to Parliament for the Bank's decisions.
This page was last edited on 3 November 2026.