EIB vice-president Kettel Thomsen appointed Danish central bank chief

(Reuters) – The Danish government said on Friday it has appointed European Investment Bank Vice President Christian Kettel Thomsen as central bank governor, succeeding Lars Rohde who announced last year he would retire after 10 years at the helm.

Kettel Thomsen is taking on the job from Feb. 1.

Denmark has had a fixed-exchange rate policy for more than four decades. Unlike most central banks, Denmark does not adjust rates to control inflation.

Its primary mandate is to keep the crown currency stable within a narrow band against the euro, an objective it upholds through currency interventions and adjusting its rate in lockstep with the European Central Bank.

“Danmarks Nationalbank contributes to stable economic development in Denmark, not least through the fixed-exchange rate policy, by overseeing and assessing financial stability and taking responsibility for efficient and robust payment systems,” Kettel Thomsen said in the statement.

“It will have to be done in collaboration with, authorities and the financial sector, among others,” he said.

Kettel Thomsen’s previous jobs include permanent secretary of state for the prime minister’s office and permanent secretary of state for finance, the ministry said.

The Nordic country’s fixed-exchange rate policy has weathered several speculative attacks and the international currency crises of the 1980s and 1990s. 

    In 2015, Denmark defended its currency peg against speculators aiming to force it to abandon the peg. The bank succeeded in its defence by selling 275 billion Danish crowns ($40.10 billion)and cutting its key rate four times. 

($1 = 6.8587 Danish crowns)

(This story has been refiled to fix a typo in the headline)

(Reporting by Essi Lehto and Nikolaj Skydsgaard, editing by Anna Ringstrom, Terje Solsvik and Sharon Singleton)