LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England needs to adopt the "spirit of the millennial" and embrace varied approaches to problem-solving, as well as boosting gender and ethnic diversity, central bank governor Mark Carney said on Thursday.
Carney made his comments on the same day that Kristin Forbes, the BoE policymaker who has taken the most critical stance towards the bank's post-referendum stimulus, said she would not seek a second three-year term at the BoE.
Carney said the BoE had targets to boost its proportion of female, black and Asian staff, but that it was important too to increase what he described as "cognitive diversity".
"Research shows that while older colleagues often view diversity as an issue of representation and fairness, millennials tend to view cognitive diversity as essential for a diverse and inclusive organisation," he said.
"The spirit of the millennial is better suited to the complex challenges that central bankers face in a risky and uncertain world," Carney continued.
The central bank governor, who moved to Britain from the top job at Canada's central bank in 2013, added that the BoE needed to do a better job explaining its messages to the public.
"It is high time that greater emphasis is placed on how central banks communicate," he said.
"To communicate to both the City and the country, the salon and the suburb, we need to create content that engages different audiences. The problem is that they don't teach you this in grad school," he added.
Carney has faced criticism from some politicians and economists for his attempts to give a sense of where interest rates may go, known as forward guidance.