<P> On 19 June 2013, Ben Bernanke announced a "tapering" of some of the Fed's QE policies contingent upon continued positive economic data . Specifically, he said that the Fed could scale back its bond purchases from $85 billion to $65 billion a month during the upcoming September 2013 policy meeting . He also suggested that the bond - buying program could wrap up by mid-2014 . While Bernanke did not announce an interest rate hike, he suggested that if inflation followed a 2% target rate and unemployment decreased to 6.5%, the Fed would likely start raising rates . The stock markets dropped by approximately 4.3% over the three trading days following Bernanke's announcement, with the Dow Jones dropping 659 points between 19 and 24 June, closing at 14,660 at the end of the day on 24 June . On 18 September 2013, the Fed decided to hold off on scaling back its bond - buying program, and announced in December 2013 that it would begin to taper its purchases in January 2014 . Purchases were halted on 29 October 2014 after accumulating $4.5 trillion in assets . </P> <P> During its QE programme, the Bank of England bought gilts from financial institutions, along with a smaller amount of relatively high - quality debt issued by private companies . The banks, insurance companies, and pension funds could then use the money they received for lending or even to buy back more bonds from the bank . Further, the central bank could lend the new money to private banks or buy assets from banks in exchange for currency . These measures have the effect of depressing interest yields on government bonds and similar investments, making it cheaper for business to raise capital . Another side effect is that investors will switch to other investments, such as shares, boosting their price and thus encouraging consumption . QE can reduce interbank overnight interest rates and thereby encourage banks to loan money to higher interest - paying and financially weaker bodies . </P> <P> Beginning in March 2009, the Bank of England had purchased around £ 165 billion in assets as of September 2009 and around £ 175 billion in assets by the end of October 2009 . At its meeting in November 2009, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to increase total asset purchases to £ 200 billion . Most of the assets purchased have been UK government securities (gilts); the Bank has also purchased smaller quantities of high - quality private - sector assets . In December 2010, MPC member Adam Posen called for a £ 50 billion expansion of the Bank's quantitative easing programme, while his colleague Andrew Sentance has called for an increase in interest rates due to inflation being above the target rate of 2% . In October 2011, the Bank of England announced that it would undertake another round of QE, creating an additional £ 75 billion . In February 2012 it announced an additional £ 50 billion . In July 2012 it announced another £ 50 billion, bringing the total amount to £ 375 billion . The Bank has said that it will not buy more than 70% of any issue of government debt . This means that at least 30% of any issue of government debt will have to be purchased and held by institutions other than the Bank of England . In 2012 the Bank estimated that quantitative easing had benefited households differentially according to the assets they hold; richer households have more assets . </P> <P> In August 2016, the Bank of England said it would buy an additional £ 60bn of UK government bonds and £ 10bn of corporate bonds, to address uncertainty over Brexit and worries about productivity and economic growth . </P>

When did the bank of england start quantitative easing