Carney denies Bank of England job rumour

The Bank of Canada had denied a report in the British media that the bank's governor, Mark Carney, has been approached to take over the same post at the Bank of England.

The Financial Times reported Tuesday that a member of the Bank of England court, which oversees the British central bank, had approached Carney about replacing incumbent Mervyn King in June.

When contacted by The Canadian Press, Bank of Canada spokesman Jeremy Harrison said the report was "not accurate."

At a news conference outlining the bank's Monetary Policy Report on Wednesday, Carney poured cold water on the notion he'd be interested in the job to begin with.

"I'm totally focused on my two responsibilities: as governor of the Bank of Canada, and the Financial Stability Board," Carney said. "I can assure you they add up to more than every waking hour of the day."

It would be highly unusual for the Bank of England to be led by a foreigner, but Carney is no ordinary foreigner.

He spent years in London while with Goldman Sachs and has acquired a strong international reputation.

Last year he was appointed head of the Financial Stability Board overseeing global banking reform and was once named by Time magazine as one of world's 25 most influential people.

He was also regarded by London bookmakers to be among the leading candidates to take over the International Monetary Fund, a post that eventually went to former French finance minister Christine Lagarde.

Carney, 47, who was appointed to the Bank of Canada in February 2008, has another three years to run on his seven-year term.

The Financial Times report said that Paul Tucker, the Bank of England's deputy governor for financial stability, remains the favourite to replace Sir Mervyn.

But there are those who think the British central bank needs a major shakeup following a "ponderous response to the financial crisis," it reported.

Canada was among the countries that emerged from the 2008-09 recession quickest and did not experience a banking failure, adding to Carney's lustre.

The Financial Times acknowledges the difficulty of a Canadian taking over as governor of the storied 318-year-old institution, but puts in his favour that he has a British wife, Diana, who studied at Oxford and worked in London.

"As a Canadian national he is a subject of the Queen. That is important," the article quotes one unnamed supporter as saying.