Stephen Poloz appointed new Bank of Canada governor

Stephen Poloz looks on after being named as the next Governor of the Bank of Canada during a news conference in Ottawa, Thursday, May 2, 2013. (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has announced that Stephen Poloz will serve as the new Bank of Canada governor.

Poloz, 57, the current head of Export Development Canada, will serve a seven-year term, beginning June 3.

The appointment comes ahead of current governor Mark Carney’s June 1 departure for London, where he will head up the Bank of England.

Flaherty told reporters he’s confident that Poloz “has the skills and experience required to lead the Bank of Canada at a time of global economic uncertainty.”

Poloz, who has worked in the public and private sectors over three decades, said he’s honoured to assume the role of Canada’s top banker. He pledged to “do my utmost to live up to the very high standards of those who came before me.”

In a statement, the Bank of Canada’s board of directors said Poloz was deemed the best candidate for the job after “an exhaustive domestic and international search.”

“Mr. Poloz has significant knowledge of financial markets and monetary policy issues and extensive management experience. We are confident Mr. Poloz will make an outstanding contribution to the work of the Bank and uphold its reputation as a leading central bank,” said David Laidley, chair of the board's special committee.

Poloz, an Oshawa, Ont. native, graduated from Queen's University in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He received a master’s degree in economics in 1979 and a PhD in economics in 1982, both from the University of Western Ontario.

He first joined the Bank of Canada in 1981, and held various senior positions there over 14 years.

Poloz then spent five years with Montreal-based BCA Research before joining Export Development Canada in 1999 as its chief economist. He became president and CEO of EDC in January 2011.

For months, analysts have been saying that Tiff Macklem, the 51-year-old senior deputy governor, is likely to take over for Carney. Poloz was considered to be a runner-up for the job.

"Who said that central banking was boring? The choice of Stephen Poloz as the new governor of the Bank of Canada is a huge surprise," CIBC said in a note to clients, The Canadian Press reports.

"Why did the Finance Minister decide to take this direction as opposed to the widely expected choice of going with the current senior deputy governor? The answer may be that the minister would like to see a governor with more experience with dealing directly with the private sector,” the CIBC note continued.

Although the appointment may have stunned some observers, TD Bank’s chief economist said Poloz is known to Bay Street.

“The key message here is that Steve Poloz is an extraordinarily strong economist but he’s also an extremely good manager and leader,” Craig Alexander told CTV’s Power Play Thursday.  “And so I think that he has all of the skills that you would be looking for in an incoming governor of the Bank of Canada.”

Alexander said he doesn’t expect a big shift in the central bank’s monetary policy once Poloz takes over.

But because Poloz’s views on the policy are not publicly known, “markets will be dissecting every sentence that he says,” Alexander added.