The International Monetary Fund will need a new managing director once Christine Lagarde is confirmed as head of the European Central Bank before the end of October. The IMF’s executive board may want to look no further than Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, as a suitable replacement.

While media reports this week have cited French officials as denying claims in the German press that a Franco-German deal is in place to support Carney’s candidacy, speculation in Washington, DC, is