New BoE governor to get yearly accommodation allowance of £250,000

Mark Carney, who is set to replace Sir Mervyn King as governor of the Bank of England next year, will receive an annual accommodation allowance of £250,000, it was revealed today.

The Bank also confirmed that Carney – currently the Bank of Canada’s governor – will be paid a salary of £480,000 a year when he takes up his new post on 1 July, plus a cash allowance of £144,000 in place of a pension.

In a statement, the Bank’s non-executive directors said: “Although the next governor’s salary of £480,000 is considerably higher than the salary of the current governor (£305,000), the cost to the Bank of enrolling him in the now-closed pension scheme previously available to the governor and deputy governors would approximate to more than 100 per cent of salary.

“This compares with the 30 per cent cash allowance in lieu of pension to which the next governor will become entitled.”

The directors said the £250,000 accommodation allowance had been offered to Carney before his appointment, and they had agreed with and supported that decision.

They added: “This will be subject to tax at 45 per cent and such social security contributions as the Bank may be required to deduct.”

Chancellor George Osborne went to great lengths to entice Carney – a former Goldman Sachs investment banker – to the UK, changing the application process and allowing him to serve a five-year term rather than the eight-year term that had originally been expected.