section_path: Financial career/Governor of the Bank of England (2013–2020)
section_name: Governor of the Bank of England (2013–2020)
paragraph_text: Governor of the Bank of England (2013–2020)
  
  On November 26, 2012, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced the appointment of Carney as Governor of the Bank of England. He succeeded Sir Mervyn King on July 1, 2013. He was the first non-Briton to be appointed to the role since the Bank of England was established in 1694. The Bank of England was given additional powers from 2013, such as the ability to set bank capital requirements. Although the usual term for governor is eight years, Carney indicated that he only intended to serve for five years and stand down in 2018.
  
  Before taking up the post, Carney had already indicated disagreement with the Bank of England's Executive Director of Financial Stability Andy Haldane, specifically on leverage ratios and bank break-ups. He has been quoted as saying that Haldane does not have a "proper understanding of the facts" on bank regulation. He was thought to have been offered a total pay package of about £ 624,000 (US$844,000) per year, approximately £100,000 (US$135,000) more per year than his predecessor.
  
  Shortly before Carney took up the post, the Bank of England took up financial regulation duties from the Financial Services Authority. Carney's changes to the Bank's operating procedures helped modernize the institution by making much more media appearances than predecessors, including controversial announcements during two referendums. Carney implemented a policy called "forward guidance" in which the Bank would not raise interest rates if unemployment was above 7% to try and encourage business lending. This policy, which contained many conditions, or, "caveats", would later be considered confusing and complicated.
  
  In May 2014, Carney warned the UK's heated housing market was the biggest risk to financial stability, and he was considering providing advice on the Help to Buy mortgage scheme, which some believed was contributing to housing inflation. He stated UK housing prices and the lack of affordability of housing in the United Kingdom was due to limited supply, and noted twice as many homes were built in Canada than in the UK, although Canada had half the population. (In 2013, 140,000 homes were built in the UK and 185,000 in Canada). Carney stated foreign cash buyers in the London market were beyond his control but he believed they did not pose a significant risk to the rest of the country. Carney assured the public the Bank was monitoring rising property prices and large-value mortgages to avoid debt overhang destabilizing the economy.
  
  In 2014, Carney warned that if the Scottish independence referendum was successful, the new country would likely not be able to continue using the pound sterling without ceding some powers to the UK.
  
  In 2015, Carney changed the number of yearly interest rate meetings from 12 to eight and ordered minutes to be published during the announcements.
  
  Before the 2016 Brexit referendum, Carney warned that leaving the European Union could cause a recession. After the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, he made another public announcement shortly after the result supporting a departure, in which he announced that the financial system would operate normally to assuage public concerns. Afterwards, the bank cut interest rates in half from 0.5% to 0.25% and restarted quantitative easing. At the urging of Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Carney agreed to extend his term while the UK undertook Brexit negotiations, but only for one year. He further agreed to an additional seven months in September 2018, to "support a smooth exit" from the EU, and to a further two months for an orderly transition to his successor, Andrew Bailey.
  
  At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, as Carney was set to leave the governorship in March 2020, the bank cut interest rates by 0.5% to protect against the pandemic's expected economic shocks.