BoE Asset Purchase Facility Update (2026): 46bln (exp. GBP 50bln, prev. GBP 70bln); Horizon: --- (prev. 40/40/20)

A slower pace than the prior GBP 70bln reduces the stock the Bank sheds through a given year, which matters because the reduction now runs through active auctions as well as passive runoff, and the shortfall against the roughly GBP 50bln consensus trims expected net issuance pressure once DMO financing needs are set against it. Previous resets of this kind have tended to land in the long end and in gilt-swap spreads rather than in front-end pricing, since the signal is about term supply, not the rate path; a unanimous 9-0 vote is in keeping with past APF decisions, which have rarely split the committee. The structure of the maturity buckets, previously tilted across short, medium and long tranches, is the detail that determines where in the curve the auction calendar bites, so the distribution matters as much as the headline total. The follow-ons are the DMO's remit revision, the revised auction schedule, and any comment on how active sales interact with periods of long-end volatility, which in past episodes has been the point where QT and gilt market functioning have collided.