Bank of Canada picks ‘renowned and prolific’ new deputy

The Bank of Canada appointed Sylvain Leduc as deputy governor on February 23, filling the place left vacant by Agathe Côté's retirement in January.

Leduc joins from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, where he is vice-president for macro and micro research. He is set to take up his new role on May 2.

In a statement, the Bank of Canada described Leduc as a "renowned and prolific researcher". Indeed, his page on economics database Ideas lists 36 working papers and 32 peer-reviewed articles penned since he earned his PhD in 1999, alongside a handful of book chapters and numerous other articles written for the Fed.

He has written widely on topics including the international monetary system, unconventional policy, inflation expectations, the labour market and more.

Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz said Leduc had a "deep understanding" of the international monetary system, which, together with his central banking experience, make him an "exceptional" addition to the governing council.

Leduc was appointed following a public search process, which was advertised internationally, although the requirements for knowledge of large macroeconomic models, executive leadership experience, a "demonstrated history" of communicating views on the economy, "intimate" knowledge of Canadian data and fluent French and English would have restricted the suitable candidates.

Born in Montreal, Leduc brings the additional benefit of being Quebecois, since Côté was the only member of the council whose first language was French.

After completing his PhD at the University of Rochester, New York, Leduc became an economist at the Philadelphia Fed, and rose through increasingly senior positions at various Federal Reserve banks over the next 18 years.

He also spent time as a visiting professor at the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari in Italy, and has been editorial adviser to the Canadian Journal of Economics since 2010.

Following Leduc's appointment, the Bank of Canada reshuffled the roles of its four deputy governors. Leduc and Lynn Patterson will oversee the central bank's financial stability activities, while Tim Lane and Larry Schembri will oversee analysis in support of monetary policy decisions.