Mark Carney last week took up his post as the new Governor
of the Bank of England, succeeding Sir Mervyn King to become the first foreign Governor
in the institution’s 319 year history.
Described by Chancellor George Osborne as “the outstanding
central banker of his generation”, Mark Carney’s appointment at the Bank of
England carries great expectations in the hope that he will help to stimulate
positive economic recovery following the 2008 financial crisis.
Since taking up his position as Governor on the 1st
July, Carney, originally from Canada, has attracted media attention for his
humble commute to work on the London underground as well as his apparent resemblance
of a well-known Hollywood actor! He will earn a basic salary of £480,000,
pension contributions worth £144,000 and receive a £250,000 a year housing
allowance as Governor.
Having a successful history as the former head of Canada’s
central bank, Carney’s role in the Bank of England is anticipated to bring an
end to low interest rates, which have remained at record lows in the wake of
the financial crisis. It is also expected that Carney, who last month stated
“Without sustained and significant reforms a decade of stagnation threatens”
will increase the stimulus program under his new position within the institution.
However, at Carney’s first Monetary Policy Meeting held last week, both the
Bank’s stimulus programme of quantitative easing, and interest rates remained
unchanged.
The appointment of Carney comes just weeks after the
parliamentary commission on banking standards reported on banking reform in the
UK, which likewise stirred positivity amongst analysts and consumers. The
report which was released on 19th June, sought to rebuild consumer
confidence in light of recent banking scandals. Amongst the proposals, better
management of bonus and incentive schemes and the implementation of a prison
sentence for bank managers found to be practicing reckless misconduct will aim
to improve industry standards.
These recent developments are no doubt positive news for UK
consumers who over recent years have endured economic austerity coupled with
high profile and damaging banking scandals. Earlier this month the Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that payments to people who fell victim to
the mis-selling of PPI have now surpassed £10 billion- a milestone mark for the
industry and the people who were wrongly mis-sold PPI by their creditor.
At We Fight Any Claim, we are focussed on reclaiming
compensation for our customers who were mis-sold PPI. After Lloyds bank last
month hit the headlines for their mishandling of PPI complaints at one of their
complaints centres, it is particularly encouraging to hear that consumer redress
has now topped £10 billion. As Mark Carney steps up to become Governor of the
Bank of England we are optimistic that coupled with the anticipated banking
reform, the UK economy and Britain’s banks can now work towards better
standards, and importantly begin to rebuild consumer confidence.
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