Legal costs at the Bank of England have more than doubled compared with last year, according to its annual report published today, reports FTAdviser sister title FastFT.
It has spent £5m on legal fees in the year to February 2014, compared with £2m in the previous 12 months. A legal spend of £5m is the highest in four years, writes Caroline Binham in London.
The figures come as the bank is embroiled in the sprawling worldwide investigation into alleged attempts at manipulating the foreign-exchange market.
At least three dozen traders have been suspended, placed on leave or fired across 12 banks -- including one official at the BoE who has been suspended -- in a global probe that involves more than 15 regulators across four continents.
The BoE has conducted its own review using external lawyers, and in March instructed Lord Grabiner QC to investigate whether “any Bank official was involved in, or aware of the potential for manipulation of the foreign exchange market, the sharing of confidential client information, or any other unlawful or improper behaviour or practice,” according to its annual report.
Press reports have said in the past that Lord Grabiner, a prominent barrister, charges clients up to £3,000 an hour, but the BoE previously said he was charging a fraction of the sums mentioned in the media. It declined to comment today on the detail of legal fees cited in its annual report.
The bank said it would defer publishing its forex-investigation report until after the Financial Conduct Authority had finished its regulatory investigation.
