The Bank of England embarked on its first big hiring spree in more than 20 years and – unlike banks now part-owned by the UK Government – boosted its bonus pool for staff in response to last year’s “exceptional” workload and in anticipation of extra future work stemming from its expanded role.

The UK central bank, known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street because of its London headquarters, added 87 permanent staff in the 12 months to the end of February. This pushed its overall staff numbers up roughly 6% to 1,857 in what the bank described in its annual report, published late yesterday, as "the first significant increase in staff numbers since 1987".