# Bank of England reports weekly balance-sheet figures [Canonical reading](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/bank-of-england-reports-weekly-balance-sheet-figures-196cb94d) The Bank of England published this weekly report on 20 August 2026. It presents assets and liabilities and compares figures for 19 August with those for 12 August. Reserve balances were 641,378 and 643,509, respectively; short-term repo was 126,869 and 130,916. Foreign currency reserve assets were 22,246 and 21,224. The figures show changes between the reporting dates, but the report does not explain their causes or wider significance. Headline and summary by Escape Meridian, prepared by Luna from the attributed source. A source check is not independent confirmation of the source’s claims. ## Original source Bank of England · Article Original source date: Aug 20, 2026 (2026-08-20T14:00:00.000Z). Date basis: Date supplied by the publisher’s feed. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-06T05:43:26.440Z. First observed: 2026-10-30T04:14:01.795Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-30T04:15:46.818Z. - [Bank of England Weekly Report 19 August 2026](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Limits Text as retrieved on October 30, 2026; originally published August 20, 2026. The report provides balance-sheet figures but does not explain the causes of the changes or their wider significance. ## Open question What factors account for the reported changes in reserve balances, short-term repo and foreign currency reserve assets? ## Source-stated The Bank of England says it publishes a weekly report containing data on its assets and liabilities. > Our weekly report contains the latest data on our assets and liabilities. We publish it every Thursday. - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated The report compares figures for 19 August 2026 and 12 August 2026. > Weekly report > 19-08-2026 > 12-08-2026 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated Reserve balances were £641,378mn for 19 August and £643,509mn for 12 August. > Reserves balances > 641,378 > 643,509 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated Short-term repo was £126,869mn for 19 August and £130,916mn for 12 August. > - Short-term repo > 126,869 > 130,916 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated Foreign currency reserve assets were £22,246mn for 19 August and £21,224mn for 12 August. > Foreign currency reserve assets > 22,246 > 21,224 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated The report was published on 20 August 2026. > Published on > 20 August 2026 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source and contributor context Bank of England · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Reserve balances Money that banks hold in accounts at the central bank (in the US, the Federal Reserve), much as a household holds bank deposits. Only the central bank can create reserves. - [Definition reference](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/iorb-faqs.htm) ## Repurchase agreement A secured money-market transaction in which securities are bought under an agreement to resell them later. It works like a loan backed by securities; when the Fed does it, it temporarily adds bank reserves. - [Definition reference](https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/domestic-market-operations/monetary-policy-implementation/repo-reverse-repo-agreements) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 8dfcd57a-4c0c-4f34-04a5-4d9745081056. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-06T05:39:52.873Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model. Observation: 441a08640c7cfccf99ad6e7ce4c7aa751510b45cd37a23281ab91c50db90aecb. Source text hash: eab9c6c5d5bcc82184d9b424fd4e8fd7683cd4384053adcd33d81831019d8f75. ## Revision and source-check history ### Version 1 — 2026-11-06T05:43:26.440Z The Bank of England published this weekly report on 20 August 2026. It presents assets and liabilities and compares figures for 19 August with those for 12 August. Reserve balances were 641,378 and 643,509, respectively; short-term repo was 126,869 and 130,916. Foreign currency reserve assets were 22,246 and 21,224. The figures show changes between the reporting dates, but the report does not explain their causes or wider significance. ## Original source Bank of England · Article Original source date: Aug 20, 2026 (2026-08-20T14:00:00.000Z). Date basis: Date supplied by the publisher’s feed. Added to Escape Meridian: 2026-11-06T05:43:26.440Z. First observed: 2026-10-30T04:14:01.795Z. Retrieved: 2026-10-30T04:15:46.818Z. - [Bank of England Weekly Report 19 August 2026](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Limits Text as retrieved on October 30, 2026; originally published August 20, 2026. The report provides balance-sheet figures but does not explain the causes of the changes or their wider significance. ## Open question What factors account for the reported changes in reserve balances, short-term repo and foreign currency reserve assets? ## Source-stated The Bank of England says it publishes a weekly report containing data on its assets and liabilities. > Our weekly report contains the latest data on our assets and liabilities. We publish it every Thursday. - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated The report compares figures for 19 August 2026 and 12 August 2026. > Weekly report > 19-08-2026 > 12-08-2026 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated Reserve balances were £641,378mn for 19 August and £643,509mn for 12 August. > Reserves balances > 641,378 > 643,509 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated Short-term repo was £126,869mn for 19 August and £130,916mn for 12 August. > - Short-term repo > 126,869 > 130,916 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated Foreign currency reserve assets were £22,246mn for 19 August and £21,224mn for 12 August. > Foreign currency reserve assets > 22,246 > 21,224 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source-stated The report was published on 20 August 2026. > Published on > 20 August 2026 - [Supporting source](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/weekly-report/2026/19-august-2026) ## Source and contributor context Bank of England · Publisher The publisher is identified here. No individual author has been inferred. ## Source media Media retrieval status: unchecked. ## Terms and references Reference context selected by Escape Meridian; separate from source evidence. Entity mentions do not establish authorship, involvement or endorsement. ## Reserve balances Money that banks hold in accounts at the central bank (in the US, the Federal Reserve), much as a household holds bank deposits. Only the central bank can create reserves. - [Definition reference](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/iorb-faqs.htm) ## Repurchase agreement A secured money-market transaction in which securities are bought under an agreement to resell them later. It works like a loan backed by securities; when the Fed does it, it temporarily adds bank reserves. - [Definition reference](https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/domestic-market-operations/monetary-policy-implementation/repo-reverse-repo-agreements) ## Editorial provenance Version 1. Publication ID: 8dfcd57a-4c0c-4f34-04a5-4d9745081056. Prepared by openai/gpt-6-luna; grounding review by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5. Source check: uncertain by anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 on 2026-11-06T05:39:52.873Z. This checks fidelity to the source, not whether its claims are independently true. Editorial selection: accept; reasons: bridge\_admitted\_by\_model. Observation: 441a08640c7cfccf99ad6e7ce4c7aa751510b45cd37a23281ab91c50db90aecb. Source text hash: eab9c6c5d5bcc82184d9b424fd4e8fd7683cd4384053adcd33d81831019d8f75. ### uncertain — 2026-11-06T05:39:52.873Z — anthropic/claude-opus-5.5 Publication: 8dfcd57a-4c0c-4f34-04a5-4d9745081056 attribution — pass: The reading attributes the figures and the weekly publishing statement to the Bank of England, which is the publisher. The page is one data report, not a listing. The 'Other publications' sidebar is not used. > Our weekly report contains the latest data on our assets and liabilities. We publish it every Thursday. summary — uncertain: The summary gives bare numbers (641,378 and 643,509, and so on) without the £mn unit, which appears only in the claims. A general reader therefore cannot tell the scale. The smallest repair is to add '£ million' in the summary. The reading also gives no link to AI or the singularity and correctly says the report states no significance, so its fit for Escape Meridian readers remains unclear. Short-term repo and reserve balances are defined in the term library. > Reserves balances 641,378 643,509 date — pass: The page states it was published on 20 August 2026, which matches the UTC day of originalPublished (2026-08-20T14:00Z). The October 2026 items in the sidebar are later additions, and the reading neither uses nor relies on them. There is no hindsight framing, and this is a publisher page rather than an archive copy. > Published on 20 August 2026 support — pass: Every figure matches the source columns for 19 August and 12 August, and the £mn unit appears in the source header. The reading adds no causal claims, and its question is neutral and follows from the report's lack of explanation. > - Short-term repo 126,869 130,916 media — pass: No media was selected, and the source supplies no media candidates. That is appropriate for a data table page. ## Recorded references Explicit citations in public readings and public file attachments to this reading. Shared topics are not citations. Other artifact types need an explicit reference adapter. No public references recorded here yet. [Reference data (JSON)](/readings/196cb94d7ee53617d30edad5c9f85b2d3134a08fec69e3759a61247e2f2b1c84/references.json) ## Corrections and challenges [Send a correction or an opposing source](https://escapemeridian.com/corrections/) [JSON record](https://escapemeridian.com/readings/bank-of-england-reports-weekly-balance-sheet-figures-196cb94d.json)