BoE's Hogg resigns over failure to flag conflict of interest

[LONDON] Bank of England Deputy Governor Charlotte Hogg has resigned for failing to declare a potential conflict of interest about her brother's role at a leading bank which had prompted a fierce rebuke from lawmakers.

The Bank said on Tuesday that Ms Hogg stepped down voluntarily. She joined the BoE in 2013 as chief operating officer and expanded her position to become deputy governor for markets and banking on March 1.

However, she admitted last week that she only revealed her brother's job guiding Barclays' response to bank regulation when she prepared information for lawmakers who were reviewing her appointment as deputy governor.

"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," BoE Governor Mark Carney said in a statement.

Ms Hogg was promoted to serve 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. Ms Hogg would have been in charge of the Bank's massive bond-buying stimulus programme.

Earlier on Tuesday, a committee of lawmakers said Ms Hogg could no longer be considered suitable for her role. "The Committee considers that her professional competence falls short of the very high standards required to fulfill the additional responsibilities of Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking," the Treasury Committee of the lower house of parliament said in a report.

One committee member said this kind of criticism was without precedent.

Ms Hogg said she had not shared confidential information or misused it any way. "However, I recognise that being sorry is not enough," she said in a letter to Mr Carney and Anthony Habgood the chair of the Bank's court, an oversight body.

Ms Hogg, whose earlier career was in retail banking, became the BoE's first chief operating officer at the time of Carney's arrival at the BoE in 2013. She had a brief to modernise the central bank's management as it took on wide-ranging responsibilities for financial services.

Her family have played a prominent role in British public life, producing several generations of senior politicians and lawyers. Her appointment drew concerns from some lawmakers that it would do little to broaden the BoE's thinking.

Some critics of the Bank have questioned why the BoE was not aware that Ms Hogg's brother was employed by Barclays.

REUTERS