FinancialTrading.com’s 10 Most Influential People in Finance

6. Sir Mervyn King

Sir Mervyn King is the 119th and current governor of the Bank of England. Sir Mervyn joined the Bank of England in 1991 after a brief tenure as a non-executive director. Six years later he was promoted to Deputy Governor, a role which he remained in until 2003 when he was once again promoted, this time to governor. He was one of the first officials to spot and publicly comment on the housing price bubble that occurred in the UK and US, stating that the levels were “well above what most people would regard as sustainable in the longer term”.

While Sir Mervyn King has many critics, few can argue with his riposte regarding his management of the 2008 financial crisis. He, along with many other central bank leaders, cut interest rates to almost zero — which he suggests as the reason for the current global economy not currently being in a “Great Depression”.

Sir Mervyn will step down as governor of the Bank of England later this year, when he will be replaced by Mark Carney, the current governor of the Bank of Canada — the first non-briton to hold the position.