Call for Hogg to quit over brother’s Barclays role
THE Bank of England’s newly appointed deputy governor is facing calls to resign after breaking the Bank’s code of conduct by failing to declare that her brother worked for Barclays.
In a letter to the Treasury Select Committee, Charlotte Hogg apologised for not formally disclosing that her brother, Quintin, was Barclays’ group strategy director, which could conflict with her work on the Prudential Regulation Committee (PRC).
The correspondence was made public during a committee session with the chairman and the deputy chairman of the Court of the Bank of England, where it was revealed Ms Hogg had not declared the family link on a number of occasions since joining the Bank as chief operating officer in 2013.
It included not stating her brother’s position when she recently applied to the Treasury to become a deputy governor at the Bank.
It comes after Ms Hogg, who has been touted as a possible successor to Bank governor Mark Carney, told the Treasury committee at a hearing last week that she always declared areas of conflicts of interest and was compliant with all of the Bank’s codes of conduct because she helped to write them.
The findings have prompted Treasury committee member John Mann to demand she steps down.
“It is simply incredible that such a senior person at the Bank of England has behaved in this manner,” Mr Mann stressed.
“Last week, Charlotte Hogg proudly told this committee that she actually wrote the Bank’s code of conduct, which she has now admitted to repeatedly breaking.
“Not only has she compromised her current position and the Bank of England itself but, more importantly, she has failed under the key principles of the Nolan standards in public life, and she has no excuse for doing so.
“This is simply a question about standards in public life and, in this regard, she has failed and must resign,” Mr Mann added.
Ms Hogg took up the role as deputy governor for markets and banking at the beginning of March, overseeing the Bank’s balance sheet and sitting on the Monetary Policy Committee, the Financial Policy Committee, the PRC and the Court of the Bank of England.
The PRC has direct responsibility for regulating banks, including Barclays.