View from City Road: Bank has plenty for outsiders to do

The interest in corporate governance is largely the result of a spate of financial collapses and, of course, the report from the Cadbury Committee. But the part played by ProNed, the governance lobby group, should not be forgotten. As a proselytiser and promoter of best practice in the appointment of non-executives, it has done more than most to keep the issue alive. Now the gospel has been spread, and ProNed is ripe for what the Bank of England coyly terms 'privatisation in spirit'.

This is not the only Bank of England-led venture that might be marketable. The Bank has its own note-printing works, has stakes in or runs several securities and banking clearing systems, and may well build and operate the Crest settlement system for shares. All could equally be run by outsiders.