- Introduction & Quick Facts
- Early life and education
- Leading the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England
- Political career and leadership of the Liberal Party
Mark Carney
- Introduction & Quick Facts
- Early life and education
- Leading the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England
- Political career and leadership of the Liberal Party
- in full:
- Mark Joseph Carney
- born:
- March 16, 1965, Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada (age 59)
Mark Carney (born March 16, 1965, Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada) is a Canadian economist who served as governor of the Bank of Canada (BOC; 2008–13) and as head of the Bank of England (BOE; 2013–20). He was the first non-British person to serve in that position since the BOE’s founding in 1694. In March 2025 he was elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Early life and education
Carney, who grew up in Canada, earned a bachelor’s degree (1988) from Harvard University, where his interest in economics was kindled by the lectures of another Canadian-born economist, John Kenneth Galbraith. He then studied economics at the University of Oxford (M.Phil., 1993; D.Phil., 1995). Prior to and following his studies at Oxford, Carney worked for Goldman Sachs, rising to become managing director of investment banking. While at Goldman Sachs he helped postapartheid South Africa gain access to international bond markets and advised Russia as it navigated a financial crisis in 1998.
Leading the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England
Carney was transferred to Canada in 2000. Three years later he was appointed deputy governor of the BOC. In 2004 he was seconded to the Department of Finance, where he implemented a policy to tax income trusts at the source. He returned to the BOC in November 2007 and took over as governor in February 2008. Unlike most other central bankers, Carney took immediate action during the 2008 financial crisis, reducing interest rates (by 0.5 percentage point) months before most other countries followed suit. In April 2009 he went further and promised to hold rates down for at least 12 more months in order to support the credit markets and sustain business confidence. As a result, Canada and its banks suffered less than the other Group of 7 countries, and Canada was able to return to prerecession levels of output and employment earlier than other countries in the G7.
Carney’s success, combined with his relative youth and accessibility to the media, made him something of a star in the normally staid world of central banks. He acquired international responsibilities, including the post of chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System at the Bank for International Settlements (2010–11) and chairman of the Financial Stability Board, based in Switzerland (2011–18). U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne stunned most observers in November 2012 when he declared that Carney would succeed Mervyn King as BOE governor, marking the first time that a non-Briton was appointed to the position. The announcement, however, was generally well received.
Carney faced numerous challenges in the post, taking over just as the United Kingdom’s economy was showing signs of sustained recovery from the recession that had started in 2008. Carney quickly adopted the “forward guidance” strategy that he had applied in Canada—giving the markets notice of the BOE’s plans by affirming that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the BOE’s very low interest rates would be maintained until unemployment in the United Kingdom fell from about 8 percent to below 7 percent. However, when unemployment dropped below 7 percent sooner than expected, there was concern about rising interest rates, leading Carney to announce that such increases would be limited. He later had to contend with the economic turmoil that ensued following the United Kingdom’s decision in 2016 to leave the European Union (“Brexit”).
Political career and leadership of the Liberal Party
Carney stepped down as governor of the BOE when his term ended in 2020. He was named special envoy on climate action and finance by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and he also held seats on numerous corporate boards. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carney served as an informal adviser to the Canadian government under Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In September 2024 Carney was tapped to lead a Liberal economic task force in anticipation of the scheduled 2025 general election.
In December 2024 one of Trudeau’s top lieutenants, finance minister Chrystia Freeland, abruptly stepped down just hours before she was to deliver the government’s first economic statement since Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory the previous month. Trudeau’s minority government proved unable to weather the shock, and a growing chorus of Liberal voices called upon the prime minister to resign. Trudeau’s personal popularity had been declining for some time, and polls showed Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party on track for a crushing electoral victory. Stating that Canadians deserved a “real choice in the next election,” on January 6, 2025, Trudeau announced his resignation as Liberal leader and prime minister.
Although he had no previous experience in elected office, Carney had been seen as a possible successor to Trudeau for some time, and on January 16 he announced his candidacy for leadership of the Liberal Party. The contest quickly resolved into a two-person race between Carney and Freeland. While the two offered slightly different visions for Canada’s future, there was no acrimony in the competition; Carney and Freeland were old friends, with Carney serving as godfather to Freeland’s son, Ivan. On March 9 the results of the election were announced, and Carney won in a landslide. As Liberal leader, he would succeed Trudeau as prime minister in the coming days.