Bank boss’s £250,000 housing allowance
The payments to the former Goldman Sachs investment banker will be well above what current Bank governor Mervyn King receives – a salary of £305,000 and a generous pension.
Chancellor George Osborne went to great lengths to attract Mr Carney to Britain, changing the application process and allowing him to serve a five-year term rather than the eight-year term that had originally been foreseen.
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Hide AdWhile Mr Carney’s salary was announced at the time of his appointment, the scale of his housing allowance had not previously been made public. “The (BoE’s) non-executive directors... confirmed their agreement to and support for an annual accommodation allowance of £250,000 for the next governor and his family which had been offered to him prior to his appointment,” the Bank said.
Mr Carney’s appointment comes at a time when Britain’s economy is struggling to emerge from recession and the government is cutting most social benefits in real terms. The average full-time salary in Britain is £26,500 pounds a year, though this rises to £34,000 in London.
The Bank has explained Mr Carney’s higher salary by noting that the central bank will take over most of Britain’s bank regulation next year, and that Mr Carney – unlike Mr King – will not be entitled to a pension.