Revealed - 57 applicants for Mervyn King's job

Even paying Mark Carney three times the rate of its outgoing governor Mervyn King, how many people would want the unenviable task of leading the Bank of England, supervising the City and getting growth policies right, all at the same time?

Well, according to Bank of England and HM Treasury information logs, there were 57 hopefuls looking to snag the job.

2012 marked the first time the Bank of England and chancellor George Osborne advertised the governor's role publicly, and the appointment of King's successor comes at a crucial time, with the Financial Services Authority disbanding and its duties as a regulator handed to the central bank.

Carney's package totals some £900,000 - a salary of £480,000, a £250,000 housing allowance and a £144,000 payment in lieu of a pension - swamping King's more modest £300,000 renomination.

It's not known how many of the candidates will have been lured by the generous benefits, and even Carney (pictured) was a surprise appointment given he had already ruled himself out  the running for the lucrative role.

Rather than serving the full eight-year term as the UK's lead central banker, Carney, who takes over when King steps down on June 30, has said he will only serve for five years.

Paul Tucker, currently a deputy governor, and Goldman Sachs' Jim O'Neill had both been tipped as alternatives to Carney, though many felt an external and foreign candidate would be better suited, particularly given the furore surrounding Tucker's influence at Barclays during its Libor-rigging days.

Osborne said Carney was 'quite simply the best, most experienced, most qualified person in the world to do the job', while Carney, Bank of Canada governor, said he was going where the 'challenges are greatest'.