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A senior Barclays executive and former Treasury official has been named as the chief supervisor for British banks and insurers, underscoring ministers’ drive to ease the regulatory burden imposed after the 2008 financial crisis.
Katharine Braddick, head of strategic policy at Barclays, will replace Sam Woods as chief executive of the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority when his term expires at the end of June, the Treasury said on Friday.
The appointment of an executive at one of the UK’s biggest banks as the sector’s chief supervisor is likely to be welcomed in many parts of the City of London as a sign that chancellor Rachel Reeves is serious about reforming regulation to support economic growth.
But it could also raise concerns over conflicts of interest and the risk that Braddick ushers in a wave of deregulation that leaves the country more exposed to another next financial crisis.
After two five-year terms as PRA chief executive, Woods has been influential in shaping much of the post-crisis regulatory framework for British banks and insurers. His successor will inherit several key decisions, including whether to ease capital requirements for lenders.
Braddick joined Barclays four years ago after two decades in the public sector, including senior roles at the Treasury and the PRA.
She was head of banking at the Financial Services Authority for a decade, including during the 2008 crisis, after which the watchdog was broken up.
Some bank executives heavily lobbied the Treasury not to appoint Michael Hsu, a former senior US financial regulator, as Woods’ successor at the PRA.
The former head of the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was opposed by some in the sector after he warned looser restrictions on banks could lead to another financial meltdown.