LONDON—The Bank of England took a small step Tuesday to dial back the stimulus it put in place for the U.K. economy following last year’s vote to leave the European Union, a move also aimed at armoring the banking system against multiple risks ranging from spiraling consumer borrowing to the possibility that Brexit talks collapse.

The BOE on Tuesday ordered banks to begin rebuilding special buffers of capital that in July it said they could run down with the aim of keeping credit flowing to households and businesses in the wake of the referendum result.

The July reduction in the so-called countercyclical capital buffer to zero was part of a package of measures the BOE implemented to cushion the economy. It also cut its benchmark interest rate to a new low of 0.25% and embarked on a fresh round of bond purchases to support growth in response to the acute uncertainty generated by the Brexit vote.

The instruction to banks to begin returning capital to pre-referendum levels comes alongside an intensifying debate among BOE officials over whether to begin nudging up their benchmark interest rate.

Chief Economist Andy Haldane last week signaled that he is inching closer to voting for a gentle increase in borrowing costs to restrain quickening inflation, adding an influential voice to an increasingly vocal minority in favor of withdrawing some of the extensive central-bank stimulus underpinning the U.K. economy.