Sir Andrew Large | |
|---|---|
 Large in 2014 at the IMF in his capacity as a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee | |
| Born | 7 August 1942 [1] |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Winchester College Corpus Christi College, Cambridge INSEAD |
| Known for | Bank of England Deputy Governor (2002–06) |
| Spouse(s) | Susan Melville, Lady Large (m. 1967) |
'Sir Andrew McLeod Brooks Large (born 7 August 1942) was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, and a member of its Monetary Policy Committee from September 2002 to January 2006.
Early life and education
Andrew McLeod Brooks Large was born in 1942, the son of Major General Stanley Eyre Large, MBE and Janet Mary Brooks.[1] He was educated at Winchester College, Hampshire. As a boy he travelled the world with his parents: his father was a Scottish army doctor.[4] He attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, taking his degree in Economics.
Large began his professional career with British Petroleum, where he worked from 1964 to 1971. BP put him in marketing, sent him to Malaysia, and then to business school at INSEAD in Fontainebleau , where he got his MBA in 1970.[5]
After graduating from business school, Large spent two decades working as an investment banker operating in the international capital markets, alongside some private sector work on boards of large UK companies. Since then, he has mainly worked in public policy as a regulator, central banker, and consultant.
Large began his career in the international capital markets as an investment banker, first at Orion Bank from 1971-79, a consortium bank owned by six of the world’s largest banks, and then at Swiss Bank Corporation, from 1980-89, where he started their international capital market activities from the newly formed Swiss Bank Corporation international based in London. He served on the management board of the parent bank in Basel from 1987 to 1989 (the first non-Swiss person on the executive team).
While still at Swiss Bank Corporation, he was approached to become the first Chair of The Securities Association [TSA] which was formed as a Self-Regulatory Organization [SRO] under the Financial Services Act of 1986. The Act was designed to handle the regulatory implications arising from the “Big Bang” in 1986. In that capacity, he held a seat on the London Stock Exchange Council as well as on the Takeovers Panel.
In the early 1990s, he left SBC to develop his own advisory firm, Large Smith and Walter with several former respected competitors, whilst also joining the Boards of a number of companies including Nuclear Electric, Rank Hovis McDougall, Dowty, and English China Clays. He also joined Phoenix Securities, the firm behind many of London's post-Big Bang mergers.[4] He began working full time on public policy in 1992, when he was appointed chairman of the UK Securities and Investments Board (SIB), the precursor of today's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). During his time at SIB the regulator was faced by several major scandals, including the plundering of more than $1.6 billion from the pension fund of the Mirror Group by businessman Robert Maxwell, in a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to keep it afloat.[6] This led to the need for significant improvements to the regulatory capabilities of the Investment Management Regulatory Organization (IMRO), the relevant self-regulatory organization for the asset management industry.
Secondly, the SIB faced the scandal of the mis-selling of pension funds through a combination of banks, insurers and independent financial advisors which came to light in 1992. The sales of private defined contribution schemes had been enabled and encouraged by the Government, with the result that large numbers of people received pensions which were seriously diminished from what they had been led to expect. This eventually led to a major restitution programme to the tune of more than £15 billion to rectify the damage caused, overseen by the SIB.
Throughout his time in office Large stopped short of publicly proposing the end of the self-regulatory system put in place by the Financial Services Act. However, alongside many others, he was well aware of its shortcomings by the end of his term at SIB, and at the request of then-Chancellor Gordon Brown he was asked to produce a blueprint for the fully statutory Financial Services Authority (FSA) which later that year replaced the mainly self-regulatory system overseen by the SIB.
During his time at the SIB, Large also served on the Council of Lloyd’s and the Bank of England’s Board of Banking Supervision.[7] [4]
On leaving the SIB, Large then served as deputy chairman of Barclays Bank from 1998 to 2002, during which he was also Chairman of Euroclear, the Brussels-based financial services company and major depository, where he oversaw its change of ownership from being a subsidiary of JPMorgan to becoming a cooperative owned by its 2000 mainly uses member firms.
At the same time he, served on the Managing Director of the IMF's Capital Markets Consultative Group between 1999 and 2002, and chaired for the Group of Thirty a global report into strengthening global financial market infrastructure for the clearing and settlement of internationally issued securities.
In September 2002, Governor of the Bank of England Edward George announced that Large had accepted an offer to serve as Deputy Governor, a choice some reports described as "unexpected".[8]
As Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Large served on the Monetary Policy Committee, where his concerns about financial stability led him to be a hawk during the period leading up to the 2007 financial crisis.
After leaving the Bank in 2006, he was asked to chair a working party to develop the standards which led to the creation in January 2008 of the Hedge Fund Standards Board (HFSB), of which he became the first chairman. In September 2017, HFSB was renamed the Standards Board for Alternative Investments (SBAI). He was also Chairman of the Senior Advisory Board of Oliver Wyman, and Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Marshall Wace, a hedge fund. He was appointed to the Board of Axis Capital, a property and casualty insurer and reinsurer located in Bermuda, where he served as Chair of the Risk Committee.
In 2010 he set up a consulting firm, Systemic Policy Partnership, which specialised exclusively in advisory work for Central Banks globally on financial stability issues, until its sale to Oliver Wyman in 2019.
Large’s present activities include retaining a Roundtable of distinguished former Central Bankers which discusses issues of significance for central banks globally and publishing its findings. [See Central Banking and SPP website] He also acts as Deputy Chair of Bermuda’s Financial Policy Council, which advises its government in relation to financial stability issues affecting the jurisdiction.
Sir Andrew Large was knighted in 1996.[8]
Outside his professional career Large has pursued other interests, notably in education where he was governor of several private schools. Between 2002 and September 2008, he acted as Warden [Chair of the Governors] at Winchester College. He was on the governing body of Abingdon School from 1991–1998[1] and of Christ College Brecon from 1998-2012. Additionally, he served on the Board of INSEAD from 1998 to 2010, when he became Chairman of the INSEAD Advisory Council until 2022.
His other interests have included Constitutional Reform of the United Kingdom, acting as a member of the steering committee of the Constitutional Reform Group and the Advisory Council of These Islands.
Personal life
In 1967, Large married Susan Melville, daughter of Sir Ronald Melville KCB. They have two sons, Alexander (born 1970) and James (born 1972), and a daughter, Georgina (born 1976).[1]
On 3 April 2012, his wife, Lady Large, was appointed the new High Sheriff of Powys at a ceremony in Brecon Guildhall.[9]
Large collects ancient varieties of apple trees which he grows at his home in Wales and is President of the Marcher Apple Network, "group of apple enthusiasts keen to revive old varieties of apples and pears" that has turned into a charity that "strives to protect these varieties in a number of different ways".[5][10]
