Carney caught in hoax email, shuts down sexist comment

Mark Carney has shown his chivalrous side after being caught out in a hoax email exchange instigated by the same person who tricked Barclays Plc boss Jes Staley earlier this month.

Pretending to be Anthony Habgood, chairman of the Bank of England’s Court of Directors, the hoaxer emailed Governor Carney about the image of Jane Austen on the new 10-pound banknote before inviting him to a “Summer Nights themed soiree.”

Carney responded twice before a comment from the fake account about “dashing bar ladies” at the event prompted the quick rebuttal of “Sorry Anthony. Not appropriate at all.” He did not reply to a two further emails from the hoaxer.

The exchange was posted on the Twitter feed of the self-styled “email prankster” on Tuesday and was confirmed by the Bank of England, which declined to comment further.

Before ending the conversation, Carney made a joke about the drinking habits of one of his predecessors as BOE governor: “I will drink the martini and order another two. Apparently that was Eddie George’s daily in take ... before lunch.”

Carney’s slip follows a similar gaffe by Staley, who responded to emails from an impostor pretending to be the bank’s chairman, John McFarlane. The Financial Times’s Alphaville blog reported on May 11 that the prankster used the address john.mcfarlane.barclays@gmail to email Staley with a message of support after the CEO faced angry questions at the company’s shareholder meeting earlier in the week.

The latest security lapse is likely to be embarrassing to the Bank of England and could prompt institutions to revisit their email policies, the London-based website Financial News said.