MARK Carney has been named as the new governor of the Bank of England by Chancellor George Osborne.

Mr Carney, the governor of the Canadian central bank, was a surprise choice to become head of the UK's central bank when governor Sir Mervyn King steps down from the post next June.

Mr Carney's hugely influential role will see him chair the monetary policy committee, which has responsibility for setting interest rates in the UK. Following the government's decision to scrap the Financial Services Authority and hand some of its responsibilities to the Bank, the governor will also oversee important regulatory powers as well.

He will serve a fixed term of eight years and will hold new regulatory powers over banks.

He pipped candidates included deputy BOE governor Paul Tucker who had been tipped to succeed Sir Mervyn.