The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating liquidity auctions held by the Bank of England during the financial crisis, the Bank has said.
The Bank commissioned its own inquiry last year, then referred the matter to the SFO.
Liquidity auctions enabled banks to access extra cash during the credit crunch that followed the collapse of Northern Rock.
The Bank confirmed the investigation but would not comment further.
The Financial Times reported in November that the Bank was investigating whether staff knew or assisted in possible manipulation of auctions it held in 2007 and 2008.
Analysis: Robert Peston, BBC economics editorAs I understand it, the SFO is looking at potential malpractice by the staff of our commercial banks, but has not ruled out that there may have been collusion by Bank of England staff.
Now the encouraging news is that the Bank is not taking disciplinary action against those who currently work for it. But it can't be confident that the SFO will not find evidence of wrongdoing by present and past employees.
Anyway, one important point is that as and when the SFO's enquiries are complete, it really matters that the Bank of England is as transparent as it can be about what happened, so that UK citizens - as owners of the Bank - can be certain that sunlight has cleansed it.
The Bank has now confirmed it appointed Lord Grabiner QC, a senior barrister, to conduct an independent inquiry into the liquidity auctions.
It said it referred the matter to the SFO "following the conclusion of that initial inquiry" in November.
'Sooner the better'Andrew Tyrie MP, chairman of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, said that the referral was the "right thing to do".
"We must now await the outcome of the SFO's work," he said. "The sooner their findings are published, the better."
The SFO simply confirmed it was "investigating material referred to it by the Bank of England concerning liquidity auctions" in 2007 and 2008.
Lord Grabiner previously led an investigation in March 2014 over whether Bank staff had played any part in foreign exchange [FX] rate manipulation.
He concluded: "I have found no evidence to suggest that any Bank official was involved in any unlawful or improper behaviour in the FX market."
Earlier this week the Bank's governor, Mark Carney, declined to comment when MPs asked him about the liquidity auctions investigation.
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