In response to growing market turmoil, the Bank of England has decided to extend the time that financial institutions have to tap into the Special Liquidity Scheme it announced earlier this year.

“In view of the current disorderly market conditions, the Bank of England is today announcing an extension of the drawdown period for its Special Liquidity Scheme to provide additional time for banks to plan their access to the scheme in an orderly fashion,” it announced today.

When the scheme was launched on April 21, the drawdown period was six months and so was due to close on October 21. It will now end on Jan, 30, 2009. The other features and terms of the scheme remain unchanged.