Carolyn A. Wilkins

Carolyn A. Wilkins is a Canadian economist. She served as Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada. from May 2, 2014 to December 9, 2020. Wilkins was the first woman to hold the position of Senior Deputy Governor, the highest position ever held by a woman at the Bank of Canada.

Early life and education Wilkins was raised in Selwyn, Ontario.

In 1988 she earned an MA in Economics from Western University in London, Ontario.

Career Wilkins worked at the Department of Finance Canada and the Privy Council Office under the governments of Brian Mulroney, Kim Campbell and Jean Chrétien. The roles she held in these institutions were senior analytical posts that involved economic forecasting and fiscal policy development. As Senior Deputy Governor, Wilkins was the Bank's G20 and G7 Deputy. Wilkins was also a member of the IMF's High Level Advisory Group on FinTech. Wilkins was passed over for the job as Governor in 2020. She chose to not seek a second term as Senior Deputy Governor, and left the Bank of Canada in December 2020, five months before her seven-year term would have finished in May 2021. During her time as Senior Deputy Governor, Wilkins was credited with steering the roll-out of the central bank's unprecedented quantitative easing stimulus program enacted amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Since 2020 Wilkins was appointed to the board of Canadian insurer Intact Financial Corporation on 1 February 2021.

On 21 June 2021, Wilkins began a three year term as an external member of the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee, which monitors risk to financial stability.

On 1 March 2022, Princeton University's Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies announced the appointment of Wilkins as a Senior Research Scholar.

Wilkins sits on the Advisory Council of the , a group that aims to ensure governments enact policies "that help Canadians live better and win globally while making sustainable growth a top priority."

Policy views

Monetary Policy Wilkins argues monetary policy should emphasize shorter-term stabilization objectives, and "we need to keep it simple: focus on clear objectives that monetary policy can actually achieve." She says "We must also ensure that the right supporting policy tools and measures are available in extraordinary circumstances."

She has stressed the importance of a diversity of views in developing monetary policy. According to Bank of Nova Scotia economist Derek Holt, Wilkins was "the only example of walking the walk and talking the talk on diversity and inclusion on the BoC's Governing Council." However, crypto could have financial stability implications. Since crypto assets are unregulated, they present financial risk, so "we need a sharpened focus on consumer and investor protection, and market integrity. These are foundational elements of a sound financial system because they support trust." Policies to achieve this include raising business investment, the adoption of technology, building infrastructure, and worker training.

In 2015, she won the J. Alex Murray Lazaridis School Alumni Award in recognition of her outstanding career success and service to Wilfrid Laurier University.

Personal life Wilkins has a partner, Victor, and a son named Samuel.