The Bank of England postponed the publication of a consultation document on a new liquidity scheme set to replace the special liquidity scheme (SLS) introduced in April as a cash injection into the banking sector, which was scheduled to end on October 21. On September 17, the Bank announced that the SLS would be extended “to provide additional time for banks to plan their access to the scheme in an orderly fashion.” The decision was also made in light of the volatile market conditions. The SLS will now close on January 30 2009, and the Bank will release its consultation document on proposals for a more permanent measure at a later date. <br><br>Terms and features of the SLS remain unchanged, the Bank added. Addressing the parliamentary committee earlier in the month, governor Mervyn King gave the first details of the proposed structure of the Bank’s new scheme, which he said would provide short term liquidity to financial institutions hit by the struggling economic market. But he added that the scheme would not assist mortgage lending: “[The proposals] will not and cannot solve the shortage of funding to finance bank lending, including mortgage lending. It is not the purpose of central …