Adam Posen on the unwritten rules of BOE-speak

Posen outlines how the BOE ran under Mervyn King

The Bank of England had some clear guidelines on central bank speakers in order to minimize confusion in the markets, according to former MPC member Adam Posen on Bloomberg.

He said the unwritten rules were:

• There would only be one speech per week
• When the Governor spoke, no one spoke for a few days before or afterwards
• No one ever directly responded to a Governor's speech
• TV appearances were highly frowned upon
• There were a multitude of blackout days

Those rules still seem to be in play at the BOE, even if Carney may have loosened them slightly.

At the moment, the multitude of speakers at almost any time from the FOMC is more of a hindrance than a benefit. At some point, coherence trumps transparency.