Mark Carney starts the free agent market for central bankers, lured from Canada to England.

Northside Storm · Nov 26, 2012

The Bank of England has gained a great leader, at the expense of the Bank of Canada.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/26/mark-carney-bank-of-england-governor

The chancellor said Carney would bring a wealth of experience to the job, which from next year will include acting as the City's top watchdog alongside setting interest rates and monetary policy.

In appointing a foreign national to the top job at the Bank of England, Osborne rejected several high profile British candidates, including the current deputy governor and frontrunner for the job, Paul Tucker, and the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner.

Carney is the first governor in the Bank's history to be appointed after an open recruitment process, in which the role was advertised and candidates interviewed by a panel.
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"My responsibility was to get the best for Britain, and with Mark Carney we've got that."

Born in Canada, the 47-year-old intends to bring his British wife and four children to the UK and apply for British citizenship. But he rejected the Treasury's stipulation that the new governor serve for a single eight-year term in favour of a contract that runs for only five years.

Osborne had been chasing Carney since early this year, when he first floated the idea with the Canadian at a G20 summit in Mexico. He had asked him officially in August. Carney said no. He still had 18 months left in the job. He didn't want to do the eight year term Osborne was stipulating. And that was before one even considered the notion of becoming the first non-UK Governor in the Bank of England's 318 year history.
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As the Guardian wryly puts it---

Labour Barry Sheerman comes closest to denting the sense of jubilation in the House of Commons, saying it's a shame that we couldn't find a British candidate.

Osborne replies that it's a sign of Britain's confidence that we can go and get the best person for the job, across the globe.

Makes Carney sound like a monetary Sven-Göran Eriksson.

Intresting development---usually central bankers are seen as stodgy nation-bound types. Is this the beginning of a more internationalist view on central banking? Would this board endorse replacing Bernanke with say, a hawkish German fellow like Jens Weidmann (Bundesbank head, dead-set on targeting inflation and perpetual thorn in Draghi's side)?

Do borders and national allegance matter more than perceived talent?

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Mark Carney starts the free agent market for central bankers, lured from Canada to England.

Northside Storm Contributing Member

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