BoE Timing Could Reduce MPC to Seven Members

The Bank of England’s rate-setting team could be reduced to seven members for the first time in nearly 11 years as election “purdah” rules will delay appointments until at least next month.

The Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) has eight members from the usual nine after deputy governor Charlotte Hogg was forced to resign in March for failing to declare her brother works for Barclays.

External MPC member Kristin Forbes is also due to step down in June, while chief economist Andrew Haldane’s term ends next week.

The Treasury has put recruiting on hold as it is unable to make appointments during so-called purdah rules on government announcements during the election period.



While it is expected that Haldane will continue in his post until his re-appointment can be confirmed, the delay to replacements for Hogg and Forbes could result in the fewest number of individuals voting on rates since 2006.

The MPC has not been down to seven members since July and August 2006 after the unexpected loss of David Walton, who voted in June 2006 and died later that month. It’s next meeting to discuss rates and release quarterly inflation report is on 3 August.

via The Guardian

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza