The Bank of England has told British banks that they should take whatever steps are necessary to prepare their systems for negative interest rates, opening up a pathway for the central bank to use this additional policy tool to encourage more lending.But policymakers cautioned on Thursday that they were not trying to send the signal that rates would be cut to zero or lower imminently. The markets responded accordingly: The British pound and bond yields rose as traders pared back expectations for a future rate cut.The central bank’s monetary policy committee held interest rates at 0.1 percent and …
