HALF the nonexecutive directors of the Bank of England, who include the great and the good from the City, business and the wider community, are set to be culled under Treasury plans.
The Bank’s Court, which has 16 nonexecutive directors, is to be radically slimmed down.
The court includes among its members Sir John Parker, chairman of National Grid, Arun Sarin, the Vodafone chief executive, Bob Wigley, Europe, Middle East and Africa chairman for Merrill Lynch, Sir Graham Hall, chairman of Leeds-Bradford air-port, Mary Francis, nonexecutive director of Centrica, and David Potter, founder of Psion.
According to Treasury plans, backed by King, a much smaller court would be more effective and better able to oversee the Bank’s work in ensuring financial stability.
There would be a new chairman of the court, appointed from among its independent directors. At present the governor is chairman.
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Another change planned by the Treasury in the postNorthern Rock shake-up is for the FSA to be given responsibility for overseeing bank payment systems.
This could be good news for customers if the regulator is able to threaten sanctions to force banks to speed up electronic payments.