Barclays hires ex-FSA head to compliance top job
Barclays has appointed former FSA chief executive Hector Sants as head of compliance and government and regulatory relations. Sants will report directly to group chief executive Antony Jenkins.
In his new role, Sants will oversee all compliance activities across Barclays, including all regions in which Barclays does business. This will mean that for the first time, all compliance staff within the bank report to one individual, and operate independent of business and regional management teams.
Sants previously served as deputy governor designate of the Bank of England and CEO designate of the Prudential Regulation Authority. He was also a member of the Financial Policty Committee of the Bank of England. Before that, he spent five years heading up the UK FSA. He has also worked at Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS and Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette International Securities.
“When I set Barclays the goal of becoming the ‘go-to’ bank for all of our stakeholders, I emphasised the importance of cultural change in delivering that outcome,” said Antony Jenkins, chief executive at Barclays. “Our people always acting in the right way in all of our interactions will be central to our culture – simply how we do business – but it is important to bolster that with the second line of defence provided by controls and a world class compliance function. With a huge wealth of private and public sector experience, and having most recently led one of the world’s pre-eminent regulatory authorities, I can think of no more suitably qualified person than Hector Sants to take on these challenges.”
Sants will take up his role on 21 January 2013.