Paul Tucker quits Bank of England He is one of three deputy governors at the Bank, alongside Charlie Bean and Andrew Bailey. Decisions on his successor will be made by the Government. Until the Libor-rigging scandal erupted, Mr Tucker had been regarded as the outright favourite to take over as governor when Sir Mervyn's term expired. Paddy Power had Mr Tucker 4/5-on favourite. After the shock decision to appoint Mr Carney as governor last November, there was speculation that Mr Tucker would leave the Bank, although at the time, those suggestions were played down. Sir Mervyn said: "I have been privileged to have had Paul Tucker as a close colleague and Deputy during my time at the Bank and as Governor. Incoming governor Mr Carney added: "It has been an enormous privilege to work closely with Paul at the FSB over the past several years. "I wish Paul every success in the next phase of his career and look forward to maintaining our close dialogue on how to build a more resilient financial system that more effectively serves the needs of the real economy," he said. In an exchange of letters over his decision to leave, Chancellor George Osborne praised Mr Tucker for the "tremendous contribution" he has made to UK monetary and financial policy. He added Mr Tucker had helped shape changes being made to the financial system across the world in the wake of the banking crisis. He wrote: "Your intellectual capacity and independence have proved invaluable in building solutions to the greatest financial challenges we have faced in generations." Mr Tucker joined the Bank straight out of university in 1980, graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge, in maths and philosophy, and initially worked as a bank supervisor. Bar two year-long secondments, to a merchant bank in 1985 and to Hong Kong in 1987, Mr Tucker has spent his entire career at Threadneedle Street - working on both rate-setting monetary policy and banking regulation. One of his defining moments came when he served as private secretary to former Governor Robin Leigh-Pemberton until 1993. Mr Leigh-Pemberton was a Bank outsider with a deep understanding of the City who became a mentor for Mr Tucker. His current term as deputy governor was due to expire at the end of February 2014.