Bank appoints Bean as deputy

DOUGLAS HAMILTON

Published on 20 Jun 2008

Charlie Bean has been appointed as the new deputy governor for monetary policy at the Bank of England, the Treasury announced yesterday, adding that Spencer Dale will replace him as chief economist at the central bank.

Dale, a Bank of England staff member who has been working at the US Federal Reserve in Washington, will serve on the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee.

Bean, 54, takes over from Rachel Lomax, who is stepping down after five years in the role at the end of this month.

In his new job, Bean will chair meetings of the MPC, which sets the base interest rate, when the governor is away.

Bespectacled and bearded, Bean is, like Governor Mervyn King, a former London School of Economics academic.

King also served as chief economist and then deputy governor for monetary policy before winning the top job in 2003.

That could put Bean, who was educated at Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in pole position to become the next governor when King's term ends in 2013, King said: "I am delighted that the Treasury has asked Charlie Bean to take on this vital role overseeing our monetary policy work.

"I am extremely pleased that the Bank has been able to promote Spencer Dale, his replacement, from the immensely talented pool of economists we have within the Bank."

The changes at the Bank came after John Gieve, deputy governor for financial stability, said on Wednesday he would step down in early 2009, creating another vacancy at the central bank's rate-setting committee.

Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said the changes would strengthen the hand of MPC hardliners.

"It is always difficult to gauge how changes in the composition of the MPC will affect its voting behaviour but, at face value, the changes would seem to bolster the King, hawkish camp," he stated.