BoE’s Hogg resigns over failure to flag conflict of interest
The Bank of England’s new deputy governor Charlotte Hogg has resigned for failing to declare a potential conflict of interest about her brother’s role at Barclays Bank which had prompted an unprecedented rebuke from parliament.
Hogg, one of Governor Mark Carney’s most trusted lieutenants, stepped down following the criticism by lawmakers who said the episode raised ‘wider concerns’ about accountability at the British central bank.
Hogg admitted last week that she only revealed her brother’s job guiding the response of Barclays - which is overseen by the BoE - to bank regulation when she prepared information for lawmakers who were reviewing her appointment as deputy governor.
Carney, who has said the Bank should employ more women in senior roles, had opted to give Hogg a verbal warning.
Yesterday, he stressed he felt she could have stayed.
“While I fully respect her decision taken in accordance with her view of what was the best for this institution, I deeply regret that Charlotte Hogg has chosen to resign from the Bank of England,” Carney said in a statement. Hogg was promoted to deputy governor and a seat on the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee this month, just as the central bank is preparing to steer Britain’s economy through its divorce with the European Union.
Hogg would have been in charge of the Bank’s massive bondbuying stimulus programme.
Last week the Treasury Committee seized on comments from Hogg that she was compliant with the Bank’s codes of conduct because “I helped to write them” as evidence of a culture of complacency inside the Bank.
Hogg said she had not shared confidential information or misused it any way.