Bank of Canada’s Knight named new BIS general manager

The Bank for International Settlements has named Malcolm Knight as the successor to Andrew Crockett as general manager of the central bankers’ organisation based in Basel, Switzerland.

Knight is currently senior deputy governor and chief operating officer at the Bank of Canada, where he has worked since 1999. He will replace Crockett, who has held the post for nine years, on April 1. Crockett announced his resignation in July 2002 and was mooted as a potential successor to Eddie George as governor of the Bank of England when George retires at the end of June this year. But this post will now go to his deputy Mervyn King.

Knight spent 24 years working for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) before moving to the Bank of Canada. While at the IMF he worked as an adjunct professor of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

His new appointment was unveiled by BIS chairman and president Nout Wellink late yesterday, following advice from a panel of top central bank regulators.

Knight holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of Toronto and masters and PhD degrees in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.