Kingman Is U.K. Treasury Top Choice for BOE Governor, Mail Says

(Bloomberg) -- John Kingman, the chairman of Legal and General Plc, is vying to replace Mark Carney as Bank of England governor, according to the Daily Mail.

Kingman has emerged as the top choice in the Treasury to take the job next year, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.

A former Treasury official, Kingman played a key role in overseeing the rescue of banks during the financial crisis, and later became chief executive of UK Financial Investments, the body that looked after the government's stake in bailed-out banks.

The 50-year-old, the son of a renowned mathematician, left the Treasury in the aftermath of the 2016 European Union referendum to take up the role at Legal and General. He has also worked for Rothschild and currently serves as the non-executive chair of UK Research and Innovation.

Interviews to replace Carney, who is due to step down at the end of January, concluded by July 31 and Whitehall experience is seen as a key asset by the Treasury, the Mail said, leaving BOE Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe as another preferred candidate. A spokesman for the Treasury declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.

The process of finding a new governor for the 325-year-old central bank has been thrown wide open since Boris Johnson took over as prime minister last month, and the decision is now in the hands of new Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid, rather than his predecessor Philip Hammond, who posted the job advert.

Financial Conduct Authority chief Andrew Bailey, who led the race in Bloomberg's latest poll of economists, lacks support within the Treasury, the Mail reported.

‘Not Comfortable'

Bailey used an interview with the Sunday Times published yesterday to insist that the BOE's independence must be maintained, calling it a “core underpinning” of economic stability. He added that running institutions such as the FCA or BOE, where there is constant scrutiny, is “not comfortable” at times.

Read More: Here are the most-likely nominees, based on a Bloomberg survey of economists

Meanwhile Gerard Lyons, a former adviser to Johnson and tipped as a strong possibility for the role, was interviewed but not shortlisted, the Mail said. Javid could still also look beyond the shortlist, and try to persuade an international candidate to take the role, it reported.

That could include former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, who has indicated he didn't apply, partly as a result of the political challenges posed by Brexit.

--With assistance from Jessica Shankleman.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Andrew Atkinson

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