The New Year will bring new governors and chairmen to three of four major central banks -Bank of England, Bank of Japan and European Central Bank. The Bank of England has already announced the successor to Sir Edward George when he retires on June 30, 2003. Mervyn King, currently an assistant governor, will become the new chief. The successor to Bank of Japan Chairman Masaru Hayami will be selected by the prime minister sometime in January. When Wim Duisenberg retires in July, it has widely been assumed that the Governor of the Bank of France would be his successor. While still considered the best candidate to lead the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet is under a legal cloud as he and eight others await trial (which continually gets postponed) concerning their roles in the 1991 and 1992 misdeeds at Crédit Lyonnais, a then state-controlled and fraud-ridden bank. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's term does not expire until June 2004.

Happy Holidays!
We will be enjoying a break between Christmas and New Years and will return on January 6, 2003.

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