Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Glenn Stevens is one of the candidates who may replace Sir Mervyn King as government of the Bank of England (BoE). Mr King is scheduled to retire in 2013.

The Australian reported that Mr Stevens was approached by the UK Treasury as part of the process to find Mr King's successor and invited to apply. However, the paper said that Mr Stevens - who has headed the RBA for six years and is a respected economist - is a dark horse among the contenders for the $480,000 a year job.

Besides Mr Stevens, other candidates being considered for the BoE post are BoE Deputy Governor Paul Tucker, Independent Commission on Banking Chairman Sir John Vickers, Santander UK Chairman Lord Burns, BoE Monetary Policy Committee founding member DeAnne Julius and former UK Civil Service Chief Gus O'Donnell.

Other potential candidates are Lord Turner, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority and former cabinet secretary Lord O'Donnell.

The UK Treasury gave interested candidate until Monday to fill up their applications, but The Australian said many of the names reportedly being considered for the post have not sent in their forms.

Grant Lewis, head of research at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe, said selecting Mr King's replacement would be a challenging task.

"Every one of the main candidates is adequately qualified. In these circles, it's a small world. The panel and the candidates know each other. It makes the task of interviewing them harder," Bloomberg quoted Mr Lewis.

Interested candidates were asked to send their resume, a cover letter and fill up a questionnaire that discloses previous political activities and potential conflict of interest. The shortlist of candidates would be drawn up by a panel which would submit it to George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer.

The panel that will draw up the list is made up of Permanent Secretary Nicholas Macpherson, Second Permanent Secretary Tom Scholar and the BoE's Chairman of Court of Directors David Lees.

British observers said Mr Tucker has the best chances of succeeding Mr King even if he was questioned by MPs in July over his knowledge of the Libor rate-rigging scandal. Business Secretary Vince Cable said BoE's next government must be someone who understands banking but isn't captured by banking.

Even if Mr Stevens would land the job, he is expected to finish first his full term as RBA governor which ends in September 2013. The Sydney Morning Herald said it believes Mr Stevens was not approached by any British officials, and added that there is little chance that a foreign citizen would be named central bank governor of another country. The only exception was when U.S.-born Stanley Fischer was made governor of Israel's central bank in 2005, but he still has to renounce his American citizenship and become an Israeli citizen to assume the post.

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