2 The appointment of Dr Ben Broadbent
Background on Dr Ben Broadbent
4. Prior to his appointment as Deputy
Governor, Dr Broadbent was an external member of the Monetary
Policy Committee, a position he held since 1 June 2011. Prior
to that he was a Senior European Economist with Goldman Sachs.
Dr Broadbent joined Goldman Sachs in 2000. Dr Broadbent received
his doctorate, which he pursued as a Fulbright Scholar, from Harvard
University in Economics in 1997. He was then an Assistant Professor
in the Department of Economics at Columbia University. Dr Broadbent
worked at Her Majesty's Treasury between 1989-1991 and 1993-1996.
Our evidence
5. In oral evidence, we questioned Dr
Broadbent about the role of the Deputy Governor with responsibility
for monetary policy, the issues facing both the MPC and the FPC,
and how he saw himself responding to those issues. The topics
we questioned Dr Broadbent about included:
· Interpreting
movements in asset prices and their importance for financial stability;
· Credit
risk models used by banks;
· Trends
in bond yields and the influence of central bank policy on them;
· Intervention
in the housing market under the secondary objective of the FPC;
· Recommendations
on fiscal policy by the FPC;
· The
distributional and political impact of monetary policy;
· Economic
policy in the euro area and the most recent actions by the ECB;
· The
level of Bank rate, and the interest rates faced by households,
in the future;
· The
risks from forward guidance;
· Household
debt and forbearance;
· Unwinding
Quantitative Easing and its effects on the economy;
· The
impact of larger Bank reserves on the economy;
· The
size of the Bank's balance sheet;
· The
housing market and the impact of Help to Buy;
· The
Bank's forecasts for unemployment and wages;
· The
level of slack in the economy and how quickly it will be used
up;
· The
level of business investment;
· Whether
the Bank of England is institutionally 'dovish';
· How
to determine whether intervention by the FPC is needed in the
housing market;
· Bank
note production and electronic currency;
· His
management experience; and
· Governance
in the Bank and the role of Court.
Conclusions
6. We are satisfied that Dr Ben Broadbent
has the professional competence and personal independence to be
the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England with responsibility
for Monetary Policy. We wish him every success in his role.
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