LONDON--The Bank of England said Monday that one of its top
officials has quit to take up a new role at oil and gas company BP
PLC (BP).
Spencer Dale, the BOE's executive director for financial
stability, will join BP on Oct. 27 after an unspecified
"cooling-off period," the central bank said.
"It has been a huge privilege to serve the Bank of England over
the past 25 years," Mr. Dale said in a statement.
Governor Mark Carney praised Mr. Dale, describing him as a
"first-rate policy maker."
Mr. Dale's departure follows a shake-up of the BOE's upper ranks
and will likely fuel speculation that some officials may be unhappy
with the revamp. He was until June the BOE's chief economist but
swapped jobs with financial stability director Andrew Haldane. The
change meant Mr. Dale gave up his seat on the rate-setting Monetary
Policy Committee, where he served for six years.
The MPC's membership has undergone an overhaul in the past year
or so. The nine member panel is made up of five BOE officials and
four "externals," economic experts drawn from outside the central
bank's ranks.
Two new deputy governors, Jon Cunliffe and Nemat Shafik, have
been brought in from outside the BOE to serve alongside Mr. Carney.
A third deputy, Ben Broadbent, moved into the role from one of the
external slots. Mr. Dale and Paul Fisher, another long-serving MPC
official, were moved into new jobs. A new external---American
academic Kristin Forbes--joined in July. Of the nine officials in
place when former governor Mervyn King retired in June last year,
only four remain.
The changes underscore Chancellor of the Exchequer George
Osborne's desire to infuse fresh blood into institution,
exemplified by the appointment of Mr. Carney himself, the first
foreign-born governor of the central bank in its 320-year
history.
Write to Jason Douglas at jason.douglas@wsj.com
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