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Mark Carney Appointed To Bank Of England

Bank Of England Steals Canada's Top Banker: Reports

Despite his denials of rumours that have been floating around for months, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has been appointed the head of the Bank of England.

Britain's Treasury gushed over Carney's appointment in a press release Monday morning.

Carney is seen by many as a superstar of the financial world, credited with helping Canada to weather the banking and economic crises of recent years better than nearly any other developed country.

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He was recently appointed to head the Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body set up by the G20 to monitor the global banking system and make recommendations on its improvements.

Because of recent reforms to the Bank of England, in the wake of the financial crisis, Carney inherits a strengthened BofE and will be "one of the UK's most powerful individuals," the Wall Street Journal reports.

Reports that Carney was being wooed by the BofE began to surface earlier this year, but fell off after he seemed to flatly turn down the job in a BBC interview.

In a note to clients, CIBC said the move was a surprise to observers.

Appointing a Canadian to head Britain's central bank is "a rare move by a country that would seem to be suggesting that none of the UK’s many esteemed economists were worthy of the job," CIBC said.

"For Canada, it’s a nice recognition that we’ve handled our monetary and regulatory affairs well enough to be recognized abroad, but it leaves a gap at the top of the monetary policy house here."

The move to appoint Carney to Britain's central bank also came as a surprise to London's business elite, Guardian economics editor Larry Elliott reported.

"The City fully expected the chancellor to pick Paul Tucker, the current deputy governor, and this will be a big blow to him and Adair Turner, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority."

Carney has at times been seen as a populist who's willing to speak uncomfortable truths to the world's bankers. As head of the FSB, he warned the world's banks he would be willing to blow the whistle on them if they didn't follow through on financial reforms put into place since the banking crisis of 2008.

"One of the things we're doing as international regulators ... is not just designing rules but we're auditing the countries from the U.K. to Canada to China to see whether they're actually implementing these new rules," he said in an interview over the summer.

"And if they don't, we're going straight to the top. We're going to the leaders of the G20, and we're going to the media and the general public, and we're letting people know who's on track and who's lagging behind."

Carney was first appointed to head the Bank of Canada in 2007, and has been serving in the role since 2008. He is expected to take the helm of the Bank of England starting next summer.

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