Bank of Canada
[edit]Deputy governor, 2003-2004
Carney first joined the Bank of Canada as a deputy governor on August 5, 2003.[10] About a year later he was seconded to the federal Department of Finance as senior associate deputy minister of finance, effective November 15, 2004.[11]
Mark Carney at the 2010 World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland
[edit]Governor, 2008-present
Carney returned to the Bank in November 2007 after his appointment as Governor, and served as advisor to retiring Governor David Dodge before formally assuming Dodge's job on February 1, 2008.[2] Carney was selected over Paul Jenkins, the Senior Deputy Governor, who had been considered the front-runner to succeed Dodge.[12] Carney took on this role during the depths of the recent global financial crisis. At the time of his appointment, Carney was the youngest central bank governor among the G8 and G20 groups of nations.[13]
[edit]The financial crisis
Carney's actions as the Bank of Canada's governor are said to have played a major role in helping Canada avoid the worst impacts of the financial crisis that began in 2007.[14][15] The Canadian economy outperformed those of its G7 peers during the crisis, and Canada was the first G7 nation to have both its GDP and employment recover to pre-crisis levels.
The Bank's decision to provide substantial additional liquidity to the Canadian financial system,[16] and its unusual step of announcing a commitment to keep interest rates at their lowest possible level for one year,[17] appear to have been significant contributors to Canada's weathering of the crisis.[18]
Canada's risk-averse fiscal and regulatory environment is also cited as a factor. In 2009 a Newsweek columnist wrote, "Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize."[19]
Carney earned various accolades for his leadership during the financial crisis. He was named one of the Financial Times' Fifty who will frame the way forward,[20] and of Time magazine's 2010 TIME 100.[21] In May 2011, Reader's Digest magazine named him Editor's Choice for Most Trusted Canadian.[22]
In October 2012 Carney was named Central Bank Governor of the Year 2012 by the editors of Euromoney magazine.[23]
[edit]Financial Stability Board
On November 4, 2011, Carney was named chairman of the Basel-based Financial Stability Board. In a statement, Carney credited his appointment to "the strong reputation of Canada's financial system and the leading role that Canada has played in helping to develop many of the most important international reforms." The three-year term is a part-time commitment, allowing Carney to complete his term at the Bank of Canada. While there has been no indication of his priorities as chairman, on the day of his appointment the Board published a list of 29 banks that were considered sufficiently large as to pose a risk to the global economy should they fail.[24][25] At his first press conference as Chair of the FSB in January 2012, Carney laid out his key priorities for the Board.[26]
Carney was chairman of the Bank for International Settlements' Committee on the Global Financial System from July 2010 until January 2012.[27] Carney is also a member of the Group of Thirty, an international body of leading financiers and academics, and of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum.[28][29] In 2012, Carney attended the 60th Bilderberg Group meeting in Chantilly, Virginia.[30]
[edit]Governor of the Bank of England
On November 26, 2012 Carney was announced as the successor to Mervyn King, the current governor of the Bank of England, when his term ends at the end of June 2013. He is the first foreign national appointed to the role since the Bank was established in 1694, which will be expanded to incorporate more regulatory powers. Carney negotiated a five year term instead of the usual eight, and will receive an annual salary of £480,000.[31]