William Allen

William Allen is a visitor at the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. He worked at the Bank of England from 1972–2004, serving in a number of capacities including most recently deputy director for financial stability and director for Europe. Since 2004, he has worked in the private sector and for the International Monetary Fund. Allen was a specialist adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee from 2010–17, and to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in 2012.

He has written extensively on monetary subjects including three books – International liquidity and the financial crisis (Cambridge University Press, 2013), Monetary policy and financial repression in Britain 1951–59 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and The Bank of England and the government debt: operations in the gilt-edged market, 1928–1972 (Cambridge University Press, 2019) – and numerous published articles.

Articles by William Allen

Operating framework

How to cut the interest cost of bank reserves – and how not to do it

William Allen says setting required reserves is not a straightforward decision for the Bank of England

13 Jun 2024

Governance

It is time to reorganise the Bank of England

Recent crises have shown the BoE’s management structure to be outdated, says William Allen

22 Dec 2022

Operating framework

Book notes: Renewing our monetary vows, by Richard Barwell and Jagjit Chadha

Open letters to the governor of the Bank of England, as new chief Andrew Bailey takes over

18 Mar 2020

Macro-prudential

Book notes: Macroprudential policy and practice, edited by Paul Mizen, Margarita Rubio and Philip Turner

An important overview of the current state of thinking about macro-prudential policy, but uncertainties remain about the current allocation of financial stability responsibilities

13 Dec 2018

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