BOE’s Crisis Funding to Banks in Unprecedented Fraud Probe

The Bank of England’s efforts to aid lenders during the depths of the financial crisis are the target of an unprecedented criminal probe by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office.

Investigators are probing the bank’s liquidity auctions in 2007 and 2008, the SFO and BOE said on Wednesday. They declined to comment on the specific allegations under investigation. The move came after the bank referred the results of an internal inquiry, led by lawyer Anthony Grabiner, to prosecutors.