Andrew Bailey, head of the Financial Conduct Authority, has been named by the Treasury as the new governor of the Bank of England.
The Cambridge educated 60-year-old will take over from departing Mark Carney in March.
He started at the Bank in 1985 - after quitting the London School of Economics as a researcher - and rose to become the first deputy governor of the Bank of England for Prudential Regulation.
He is thought to have seen off opposition from Minouche Shafik, director of the London School of Economics, Shriti Vadera, chair of Santander UK and Kevin Warsh, a former member of the US Federal Reserve’s board of governors.
While long considered a more than able successor to Canadian Carney, it was thought the FCA’s rather cack-handed approach to a recent spate of financial scandals may have put paid to his candidature.
Former permanent secretary to the Treasury, Nick McPherson, said: “Bailey of the Bank is the most able and competent BoE official I worked with: by far the steadiest under fire in the financial crisis.
“He won't make waves unnecessarily. But his all-round experience will help to steady economic policy at a challenging time for the UK.”