London:Former Reserve Bank of India chief Raghuram Rajan said he did not intend to apply for the job of Bank of England (BoE)?governor which is due to fall vacant next year.
Rajan has been mentioned by analysts as a possible future BoE governor after Mark Carney – who previously headed Canada’s central bank – steps down at the end of June 2019.
“I have a very good job at the University of Chicago and I actually am an academic, not a professional central banker. I am very happy where I am,” Rajan told reporters after an event in London hosted by the US university’s Booth School of Business, where he is a finance professor.
“I think I’ve said all I can say. I’m not going to apply for a job anywhere, absolutely.”
Asked what he would do if he were approached to fill the role, Rajan – who was the RBI’s governor until September 2016 – said he had answered a similar question.
British finance minister Philip Hammond is expected to name Carney’s successor later this year, and said in Washington last month that he would consider candidates from abroad.
Andrew Bailey, a former BoE deputy governor who now heads Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority, is seen as the front-runner by many economists in the City of London.
Aside from current senior BoE staff, other names mentioned include Agustin Carstens, the Mexican who is general manager of the Bank for International Settlements, Minouche Shafik, a former BoE deputy governor who heads the London School of Economics and Shriti Vadera, who chairs Santander UK.
