Mervyn King: A Governor looks back – and forward Speech by Mr Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet for Bankers and Merchants of the City of London, London, 19 June 2013. *  *  *  My Lord Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen: Chancellor: thank you for those generous words. It has been a privilege to work with you over the past three years, a period of great change both at home and abroad. Your support for the Bank has been much appreciated at this end of town, and you have changed for the better the regulatory framework that oversees the City. But we both know that the past few years would have been much more difficult without the continual support of two people. And I am so pleased that both Frances and Barbara are with us tonight. And I’m particularly happy, George, that neither you nor I have to speak after either of them because experience suggests that we would suffer from the comparison. Lord Mayor: let me thank you too for presiding over my final Mansion House Dinner. We have enjoyed many musical evenings together, and Barbara and I look forward to sharing many more with you and Clare after you shed the chains of office later this year. The City has been extremely fortunate to benefit from your energy, drive and can-do attitude as Lord Mayor. I shall not detain you this evening with a retrospective examination of my time as Governor.
The proposed transfer fell through – apparently the Directors of the Bank viewed the Canadian as ‘too Keynesian’. What that tells us about his views on monetary activism I do not know. But it is perhaps worth noting that Towers’ first Deputy Governor was a Mr. Osborne, who agreed to move to Canada from the Bank of England for a spell of ‘up to 5 years’. Sadly, the partnership between the Canadian Governor and Mr. Osborne lasted only three years, before the latter departed. But, Chancellor, remember that history doesn’t always repeat itself. In Britain, and especially in the City, we have always welcomed talent from around the world in academic, business, artistic and sporting life. Why should central banking be different? George, you are to be congratulated on Mark’s appointment. I shall of course be sad to leave. But Governors come and Governors go – it is institutions, and the ideas they embody, that matter more. I leave behind a strong, independent, muchchanged Bank now focused on its two main responsibilities. The lessons of recent years have been learnt and it is up to us all to remember them. The test of our monetary arrangements is to see them work successfully under new leadership, none of whom were present at the creation. No doubt some things will change. No doubt some things need to change. After all one does not change an institution in order to set it in concrete. A successful institution, just like the City as a whole, always adapts to new circumstances.