This picture taken on August 7, 2013 shows a general view of the Bank of England in London/AFP
LONDON, March 18- The Bank of England on Tuesday said it had appointed Nemat Shafik, a deputy to IMF chief Christine Lagarde, to a new role providing oversight of financial markets and banking.
The appointment came as Governor Mark Carney looks to strengthen the BoE’s structure amid a review of its processes triggered by a probe into suspected rigging of foreign exchange markets, which caused the central bank to suspend a worker.
The BoE previously stressed however that it had found no evidence that staff colluded in the alleged manipulation of the trades, 40 percent of which are conducted in London.
A Bank of England statement said that Carney and British Finance Minister George Osborne had “agreed to appoint Dr Nemat Shafik as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England responsible for Markets and Banking”, beginning in August.
Shafik said she was “excited to be joining the Bank at such a critical time of institutional change”.
She added that she looked forward to taking on what she called a “challenging new role” as the Bank seeks to “reform financial markets for the post-crisis world.”
In a separate statement, Lagarde said: “The fact that she is leaving us to take up such an important post is testimony to her broad command of policy issues, her superb leadership and communications skills, and her global reputation.”
Shafik, a national of Egypt, Britain and the United States, has overseen the Fund’s work on countries in Europe and the Middle East, including on financially bailed out eurozone members Greece and Portugal.
