New BoE deputy governor apologises over brother’s job at Barclays

Charlotte Hogg, the incoming deputy governor of the Bank of England, has apologised for failing to disclose her brother’s role at Barclays when joining the bank three years ago.

Having been quizzed by MPs about her sibling’s job in Barclays’ strategic planning unit last week, Ms Hogg said she did not make the BoE aware of his position despite telling the Treasury Select Committee she had informed the Bank’s code of conduct.

The deputy governor accepted responsibility for her “oversight” today. She first joined the BoE as chief operating officer in 2013 after a career in the private sector and will take up the position of deputy governor for markets and banking this month.

As part of her new role, Ms Hogg will be in charge of regulating Barclays as a member of financial watchdog, the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA). She becomes the BoE’s most powerful deputy governor sitting on the Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee, the PRA, and the BoE’s court of governors.

The first time she disclosed her brother’s role was when asked to fill out a questionnaire for the Treasury Select Committee ahead of a hearing last week. He works as a director in group strategy for Barclays.

At the hearing, Ms Hogg said she was unaware of her sibling’s precise role at the bank before being prompted by the TSC’s questioning. She did “not discuss work” with him, she told MPs.

But in a letter to Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the TSC today, Ms Hogg said:

I should have formally declared my brother’s role when I first joined the Bank. I did not do so and I take full responsibility for this oversight.

Regrettably, my oversight means my oral evidence to the Committee in this respect was not accurate.

She said the Bank’s internal authorities made it clear that “no actual or potential conflict of interest has arisen to date”, adding:

I do not anticipate that an actual or potential conflict will arise in future. Nonetheless, I appreciate that my new role as Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking involves an expanded remit with membership of the Bank’s policy committees and that the public must perceive the independence, integrity and impartiality of the decisions taken by those committees as being beyond question.

Speaking to the TSC this morning, the deputy chairman of the BoE’s court Brad Fried said Ms Hogg’s failure to disclose her family links was “not a hanging offence”.

Ms Hogg’s mother, Baroness Hogg, is a current non-executive director at John Lewis. The governor also dismissed any “perception” of a conflict of interest when asked by the TSC last week.

Her father, Viscount Hailsham, was a cabinet minister in the Major government and an MP until he stood down in 2010.