Outgoing Bank of England Governor Mervyn King © AFP/File Carl Court
“The overwhelmingly positive reception to his appointment is testimony to the strength of his personal credentials for one of the toughest jobs in global finance,” said Tuesday’s editorial.
The Daily Telegraph claimed that Osborne had “seized the opportunity to try to inject some fresh ideas into a rather fusty institution” and called the choice “as daring as it is surprising”.
Carney comes from outside Europe, but in his role at the FSB has been involved in dealing with some of the fallout from the global financial crisis and fighting the eurozone’s long-running sovereign debt crisis.
Britain is not a member of the eurozone, but is deeply concerned that the thrust of European Union policies to reform the financial world threatens the City of London.
The appointment comes amid a series of damaging scandals that have rocked London’s City financial district and sparked fresh concerns over the banking sector’s conduct — particularly over the Barclays Libor rate-rigging affair.
Carney also takes the helm with the BoE due to take over banking regulation from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) next year, as part of a regulatory revamp aimed at avoiding a repeat of the devastating financial crisis.
The governor leads the Bank of England, an independent body which sets interest rates and has pumped out billions of pounds under its radical quantitative easing policy since 2009 to stimulate economic growth.
Osborne said Carney had “unparalleled expertise in financial regulation” and had helped steer Canada through the financial crisis.
“He will bring a fresh perspective,” Osborne told parliament. “He has got what it takes to help bring families and businesses through these incredibly challenging economic times.
“My responsibility was to get the best for Britain, and with Mark Carney we’ve got that.”
The announcement took markets by surprise because the bookies’ favourite had been current BoE deputy governor Paul Tucker.
Carney will succeed King, 64, under whose watch the British central bank played a vital role in stabilising world financial markets following the 2007/2008 global financial crisis.
King welcomed the announcment of the appointment of his successor, adding that Carney represented “a new generation of leadership for the Bank of England … and an outstanding choice to succeed me.”
Under King’s tenure, the BoE sought to aid economic recovery by slashing its key interest rate to a record low of 0.50 percent, where it has stood since March 2009, when it also launched its quantitative easing (QE) stimulus policy.
