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Bank of England bolsters safeguards against conflicts of interest

Published 09/08/2017, 14:48
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man stands outside the Bank of England in the City of London
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LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England moved on Wednesday to bolster safeguards against possible conflicts of interest among staff, having been rocked in March by the resignation of a top official who failed to declare her brother worked for a major bank.

The BoE will create a new post to identify and manage conflicts of interest, as recommended in a review by the BoE's non-executive directors.

It will also update its requirements for notification of personal relationships and potential conflicts.

"I welcome this review and its recommendations, which will be implemented in full," BoE Governor Mark Carney said.

In March, Charlotte Hogg resigned as deputy governor after a parliamentary committee rebuked her over her failure to declare a potential conflict of interest about her brother's role at Barclays (LON:BARC), which is regulated by the BoE.

The review published on Wednesday showed the BoE did not follow its own official processes to flag conflicts of interest when it hired Hogg as its chief operating officer in 2013 - something that was "not atypical" for senior appointments.

Instead, there was an informal exchange of emails with the BoE's chairman of court, the BoE's oversight body.

Hogg only revealed her brother's job, guiding the response of Barclays to bank regulation, when she prepared information for members of parliament who were reviewing her promotion as a BoE deputy governor earlier this year.

The review concluded that a "more structured approach" might have resulted in Hogg registering her brother's job as a potential conflict of interest from the beginning.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man stands outside the Bank of England in the City of London

Nicky Morgan, the chair of parliament's Treasury Committee, said her colleagues will want to hear from the BoE's management what lessons have been learnt, and how it will implement the review's recommendations.

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