William A. Allen is an honorary Visiting Senior Fellow of Cass Business School, London. He worked for the Bank of England from 1972 to 2004 in a wide range of functions, including monetary policy formulation and financial market operations. From 1978 to 1980 he was seconded to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, and from 1994 to 1998 he was a member of the European Union Monetary Committee. He was educated at Oxford University and the London School of Economics.