BOE’s Bailey Defends Banks Against Calls to Tax Profits From QE

Taxing the profits made by UK lenders from their holdings at the Bank of England would threaten financial stability and drive up mortgage costs for households, top BOE officials said.

Andrew Bailey, the governor, and his deputy Dave Ramsden pushed back against claims that banks are making “windfall profits” at the expense of taxpayers as a result of the BOE’s quantitative easing money-printing program.

“It would have a big consequence if we were not paying interest on reserves,” Bailey told lawmakers in his strongest defense of the industry yet. “Frankly, it would affect customers in terms of either cost ...