LONDON (Reuters) – Former Bank of England policymaker Gertjan Vlieghe has agreed to join major U.S. hedge fund Element Capital as its chief economist, a representative for the company said on Monday.

Vlieghe was a member of the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee for six years before being elected to resign at August’s end. His second term as an outside member ended after three years. He was previously a partner of the hedge fund Brevan Henry before joining MPC.

Element Capital oversees assets in excess of $15 billion. Element Capital closed new investments in 2018 and returned investors $2 billion early this year.

Vlieghe, who will be located in London, is expected to take up his new job before the year ends. Financial Times reported the news about Vlieghe’s appointment for the first time.

Vlieghe, during his tenure as a policymaker was generally quite dovish. He preferred to reduce interest rates below zero in the event of further economic weakness.

Vlieghe stated in August that, as Britain continued its recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak, the BoE might raise rates by 2022.

In his final BoE speech https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2021/july/gertjan-vlieghe-speech-at-the-london-school-of-economics in July, Vlieghe highlighted the role of ageing populations and higher income inequality in pushing down global interest rates, as well as the limited capacity of central banks to ease financial conditions in future downturns.