Be on the cards. Russell Lynch sizes up the CVs of the contenders
tal in putting together a plan to tackle the banking crisis a decade ago. But her nickname among civil servants (“Shriti the Shriek”) attests to an abrasive and direct style which might not go down too well in Threadneedle Street.
Former chancellor Alistair Darling said of her in his memoirs: “She appears to believe that unless there is blood on the carpet, preferably that of her own colleagues, then she has not done her job.” Is the Bank ready for Vadera?
Ben Broadbent
Broadbent is the central banker who could have been a concert pianist after spending two years in Paris studying at the École Normale de la Musique — and he’s also an excellent violinist. But he settled on economics and as deputy governor for monetary policy, the former Fulbright scholar is fiercely intelligent and has experience outside Threadneedle Street. He worked at the Treasury, where a former colleague said he had a brain the size of a planet but wore a green jumper “that looked like he had knitted it himself”. The suits got sharper after an 11-year stint at Goldman Sachs, where he rose to be chief economist. He switched back to the Bank of England in 2009.
Counting against Broadbent is a reputation for being slightly disorganised and a lack of media-savvy. His recent comments on a “menopausal” UK economy caused a storm, forcing him into an instant apology for “the ageist and sexist overtones” of the word. The gaffe might mean his own chance for the job is “past its peak”.
DameDame D ((Minouche) Shafik USP: Leadership skills
The Th Egyptian-born director of the London do School of Economics had a twoa an n d-a-h a l f ye a r s t i n t a s a d e p u t y governor go of the Bank, so knows her way around. ar Armed with an Oxford doctorate, at she also became the youngest ever vice-president vi of the World Bank at just 36 and has extensive experience in Whitehall as a permanent secretary in the h Department for International D Development.
W When Shafik was deputy managing di director of the IMF, her then chief Ch Christine Lagarde described her as “c “candid, loyal and a superb leader”.
Turning to Shafik, Vadera — or even Ofcom chief executive Sharon White — would certainly mark a blow for diversity at the Bank. Shafik has been outspoken on the topic, saying she prefers the expression “sticky door” to “glass ceiling” because “even if you get through the door it sticks again, it takes another person to nudge it”.
But what might count against her is a perceived lack of experience in banking picked up by MPs on the Treasury Select Committee on her appointment as deputy governor in 2014. Then-chairman Andrew Tyrie inquired whether she was “going to learn on the job”.
Does she have enough central banking experience?