Bank of England to hire operations chief The Bank of England, under fire for weak corporate governance as it takes on broader powers, has said it will create a chief operating officer role, allowing its governor and deputy governors more freedom to focus on policy. In a notice on Monday announcing the retirement of Warwick Jones, its finance director, the BoE said the appointment to the new post would take place in 2013, after Sir Mervyn King's successor as governor has been named. The announcement on the new governor is expected to be made around the time of the Autumn Statement on December 5. The Treasury select committee has been holding hearings on BoE governance and the plans to give the BoE widely expanded powers on monetary and regulatory policy. It has questioned whether too much authority and responsibility are being concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people. Andrew Tyrie, the committee's chairman, has repeatedly expressed concern that the BoE's Court of Directors is not accountable enough, and is seeking stricter measures to improve governance. The move to split the BoE's administrative responsibilities from broader policy making at the top of the institution appears to be an effort to address those criticisms. The BoE said it had asked Odgers Berndtson, an executive recruitment agency, to conduct the first phase of the recruitment process for a COO and that the job would be advertised shortly.