Bank of England appoints Charlotte Hogg as deputy governor as hawkish Kristin Forbes prepares to step down
Charlotte Hogg has been appointed as a deputy governor to the Bank of England as the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee’s Kristin Forbes prepares to complete her three-year term in June.
The Treasury announced the appointment of Hogg to one of the Bank’s top roles for a renewable five-year term, starting on 1 March.
Hogg became the Bank’s first chief operating officer in 2013, tasked with running day-to-day operations, but without a formal role in monetary policy decisions. She moved from Santander bank, where she was head of retail distribution.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said: “I’m confident that her exceptional leadership skills and wide-ranging experience make her the right person to take on the position.”
Meanwhile external MPC member Forbes will leave the Bank of England to continue her role as an academic at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The shuffle promises to change the composition of the MPC at a time when it will come under increasing pressure to raise interest rates as inflation increases.
Forbes, who is set to finish her term on the rate-setting body at the end of June after starting in July 2014, is seen as one of the MPC’s most hawkish members.
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On Tuesday she made it clear she expected to raise interest rates to combat inflation if the UK economy continued to perform healthily.
She was also an early opponent of further interest rate cuts in September, after the Bank lowered the bank rate to 0.25 per cent.
Mark Carney said Forbes “has brought insight, fresh thinking and academic rigour to our deliberations, as well as a fresh and engaging approach to communications”.
The Treasury will start looking for a replacement for Forbes “shortly”, according to a statement from the Bank’s governor Mark Carney. It appoints external members of the committee for three-year terms in an attempt to ensure diverse thinking.