Deputy Governor Alejandro Díaz de León Picked to Lead Bank of Mexico

President Enrique Peña Nieto on Tuesday appointed Alejandro Díaz de León, a U.S.-educated technocrat with more than 25 years in public service, as the next Bank of Mexico chief.

Mr. Díaz de León, now a central bank deputy governor, will succeed Agustín Carstens, who is leaving this week to become the head of the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland.

The decision will leave the central bank board with four voting members until a replacement deputy governor is nominated to the Senate, something Mr. Peña Nieto is expected to do in early 2018, according to several senators.

Miguel Messmacher, a deputy finance minister, is seen as a likely candidate for the deputy governor position, a top government official said.

Mr. Díaz de León's appointment means continuity of the policies that have made the bank one of the most orthodox central banks across Latin America. Mr. Díaz de León has been a vocal defender of the bank's autonomy and its single mandate of maintaining the purchasing power of the peso through low and stable inflation.

His term will begin Dec. 1 and run through December 2021, when Mr. Carstens's term was scheduled to end.

Write to Juan Montes at juan.montes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 28, 2017 18:24 ET (23:24 GMT)