Mark Carney, who heads the Bank of Canada, will be the next governor of the Bank of England. Carney was one of the candidates, but he wasn’t the leading one. Paul Tucker was the favorite.
The announcement of Carney’s appointment sends GBP/CAD higher. Markets are cheering Carney.
GBP/CAD is now at 1.5948, up from around 1.59 before the announcement.
Carney will replace current governor Sir Mervyn King in July 2013, and will work for a planned 5 years. Canada will set a committee to find a replacement for Carney, which will retire as BOC Governor at the end of May 2013.
Carney, 47, Â is not a British citizen, but is married to one. His 4 children have a dual Canadian-British citizenship. He worked in London for Goldman Sachs.
He received many complements for his handling of the financial crisis. Canada’s unemployment rate rose during the crisis, but it wasn’t hit as hard as the UK, the US and most developed economies.
It is still to be seen if Carney will be blamed for the slowdown in Canadian housing – there is a growing debate about a housing bubble, especially in Toronto and Vancouver.