The Bank of England's £50 billion cash injection into the mortgage market has so far not made any difference to the cost of borrowing, the head of the UK's biggest building society said yesterday. Graham Beale, chief executive of Nationwide, told The Times that a response to the facility "has not happened yet". He indicated that although the Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS), which allows banks to swap mortgage assets for safer Government bonds, would need more time to work, the facility is unlikely to resolve the funding shortages that have blighted the market over recent weeks, pushing up the cost of borrowing for homeowners.

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