Bank of England gets a new member as traders eye an eventual rate hike

Luke MacGregor | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Pedestrians walk past the Bank of England (BOE) in the City of London, U.K.

David Ramsden joined the Bank of England (BOE) Monday as deputy governor for markets, with analysts expecting the economist to stick to a dovish line for the bank and not opt for immediate rate hikes.

He will also be a member of the BOE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Financial Policy Committee, the Prudential Regulation Committee and the Court of the Bank of England.

Ramsden, who was knighted in 2015 on the back of his work in economic policy, is joining from the U.K.’s Treasury Department where he has served since 1988 and as chief economic advisor since 2008.

During his tenure there, he most notably spearheaded work on whether the U.K. should join the euro from 1999 to 2003. The conclusion was that joining the euro would not be in the U.K.’s economic interests.

In 2016 and into the run-up to the Brexit referendum, the Treasury came under fire by Euroskeptics for publishing forecasts that were perceived to be too gloomy. The reports looked at the long-term economic impact of the U.K. leaving the EU, estimating that, in an adverse shock scenario, it would lower output by more than 6 percent within 2 years.