Sharon Bowles – a British Liberal MEP who chairs the European Parliament's influential economics and monetary affairs committee – has put herself forward to become the next governor of the Bank of England.
The UK's central bank has not had a woman at its helm in its 318-year history and Bowles's application comes at a time when the issue of female representation in central banking has been raised by the Parliament.
Bowles's committee is currently blocking Yves Mersch, from Luxembourg's central bank, from taking a seat on the executive board of the European Central Bank, because MEPs are concerned about lack of gender balance on the ECB board and governing council.
It now seems as if Bowles wants to extend female influence to the City of London, by her candidacy for the €370,000-per-year job. She would have to beat heavyweight candidates in Adair Turner, the head of the UK's Financial Services Authority, Paul Tucker, the Bank of England's deputy governor, and John Vickers, who led the British government's banking commission.
The identity of the governor of the Bank of England is expected to be announced by the British government by the end of this year, and he or she would start work in June next year. Entre Nous will be even more surprised than Bowles if she is appointed.
