The Issue Department of the Bank of England

Abstract

This article sets out the establishment of the Issue Department of the Bank of England in 1844. We present a new series showing the profits of note issue to the present day and discuss these in relation to central bank seigniorage. We discuss its changing size and importance and the unusual uses to which it was occasionally put. We argue that the main reason for the creation of the Issue Department, to ensure the separation of the profits of issue from the profits of banking business, still remains the case 180 years later.