Andrew Bailey takes up the post of Bank of England governor on 16 March following more than two years of speculation about who will succeed the Canadian incumbent, Mark Carney.
Bailey is a home-grown replacement, from Leicestershire, whose CV appears in stark contrast to that of Carney, the former Goldman Sachs banker. Most of Bailey’s career has been spent at the central bank’s neoclassical Threadneedle Street headquarters, most prominently as chief cashier, with his name on every banknote. He was head of the Bank’s supervisory body, the Prudential Regulation Authority, when in 2016 George Osborne, then chancellor, asked him to take over at the industry consumer watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority. /info/2017/may/16/guardian-business-today-sign-up-financial-news-email Carney was an energetic governor and a major player on the global stage, whose job ranged from monetary policy and the setting of interest rates to designing the regulatory architecture for the banks and insurance companies. During his time as governor he has flagged the climate crisis as a major issue for the finance industry, and until recently he was head of the G20’s Financial Stability Board.
Bailey’s forthcoming eight-year tenure is likely to be equally busy. Here are five issues that will be high on his agenda. Brexit
Already well acquainted with the nuances of Brussels-speak and the art of negotiating with EU officials, Bailey must now support the Treasury as it seeks to protect the City from a calamitous Brexit, one that leaves London accepting all the EU’s rules just to maintain basic access to EU markets.
Carney has been outspoken in his view that rule-taking without influence would be a disaster for the myriad companies that make London the most international of all financial centres. Bailey is expected to argue that “equivalence” – the right of access for non-EU countries to EU financial services markets – is more about the outcomes of policy than it is a slavish application of rules. In his favour is the distinct worry of the French and Germans that the eurozone’s main access to deep pools of investment funds will lie outside its borders. While there are some voices in mainland Europe calling for London to be brought to heel under threat of being damaged by Brexit, there are saner officials looking for a compromise that maintains something like the status quo. A reflection of the Bank of England in a window in the City of London. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters Hedge fund […]
