The Lord Sassoon | |
---|---|
Commercial Secretary to the Treasury | |
In office 11 May 2010 –3 January 2013 | |
Prime Minister | David Cameron |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | The Lord Deighton |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assumed office 29 May 2010 Life Peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | London | 11 September 1955
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse | Sarah Barnes |
Children | 3 |
Education | Sunningdale School Eton College |
Alma mater | Christ Church,Oxford |
James Meyer Sassoon,Baron Sassoon, FCA [1] (born 11 September 1955) is a British businessman and politician.
After a career in the financial sector he served in various roles in HM Treasury,the UK's finance ministry,from 2002 to 2008,at which point he began advising David Cameron on financial issues. [2] From May 2010 to January 2013,Sassoon was the first Commercial Secretary to the Treasury and was appointed to the House of Lords as a Conservative. [3]
From 2013 to 2020,he was an executive director of Jardine Matheson Holdings.
Lord Sassoon is president,formerly chairman,of the China-Britain Business Council. He is chair of Sir John Soane's Museum. Sassoon is a non-executive director of Arbuthnot Banking Group,of Barco NV and of China Construction Bank. He is a member of the international advisory council of the China Investment Corporation.
Sassoon was president of the international Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering 2007–2008. [4]
Sassoon is a member of the Sassoon family,and was born in London,the son of Hugh Meyer Sassoon (first cousin of Siegfried Sassoon) and Marion (née Schiff);he is the great-great grandson of Sassoon David Sassoon.
He was educated at Sunningdale School, [5] a junior boarding independent school in the village of Sunningdale in Berkshire,where he was a friend of David Profumo,the son of John Profumo. [5] Thereafter he attended Eton College, [6] a senior boarding school,also in Berkshire,followed by Christ Church at the University of Oxford, [6] where he read Philosophy,Politics and Economics. [6]
In 1977 Sassoon began his career in finance at Thomson McLintock &Company. In 1985,he joined S.G. Warburg &Co. (later UBS Warburg). He became a director in 1995,leading the firm's privatisation business,and from 2000 to 2002 he served as vice-chairman of investment banking.[ citation needed ]
Sassoon served as a director of the following organisations:Partnerships UK,2002–06;Merchants Trust,2006–10 (chairman 2010);the ifs School of Finance,2009–10 (chairman) and the Nuclear Liabilities Fund,2008–2010. He was a trustee of the National Gallery Trust,2002–09. He is a trustee emeritus of the British Museum,trustee 2009–10 and 2013–2021,deputy chair 2021.
From 2013 to 2021 he was a member of the global advisory board of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. From January 2013 to 2020,he was an executive director of Jardine Matheson Holdings and of Matheson &Co. He was also a director of Hongkong Land,Dairy Farm International Holdings and Mandarin Oriental.
He is president,formerly chairman,of the China-Britain Business Council. [7] He is chair of Sir John Soane's Museum. Sassoon is a non-executive director of Arbuthnot Banking Group and of Arbuthnot Latham &Co,of Barco NV and of China Construction Bank Corporation. He is a member of the international advisory council of the China Investment Corporation.
In 2002,he joined HM Treasury,becoming managing director of finance,regulation and industry,and served until 2006. Sassoon then became the chancellor's representative for promotion of the city. In 2007,he was named president of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering,also responsible for combating terrorism financing. He continued in both roles until 2008. Sassoon received a knighthood in the 2008 New Year Honours. [8] [9] At that time,he began advising David Cameron,then the Leader of the Opposition,and George Osborne,then the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer,and became a member of the Shadow Cabinet's Economic Recovery Committee.
In 2009,he wrote The Tripartite Review,a review of the adequacy of the UK's three financial regulators (the Financial Services Authority,HM Treasury and the Bank of England),especially as regards financial stability. [10]
In May 2010,he was named Commercial Secretary to the Treasury,a minister whose portfolio includes financial services and business. In consequence,it was announced he would be made a life peer,and on 3 June 2010 he was introduced in the House of Lords as Baron Sassoon,of Ashley Park in the County of Surrey. [11] [12]
In the 2012 Cabinet reshuffle it was announced he would be replaced by Lord Deighton in January 2013 as Commercial Secretary to the Treasury and in line with Sassoon's desire to return to the private sector. [13]
In November 2017,he was mentioned in the Paradise Papers as one of the beneficiaries of a Cayman Island trust fund worth $236 million in 2007,and defended its assets as being of non-UK origin contributed only by his grandmother,who had died more than 40 years prior. [14]
In 1981,Sassoon married Sarah Barnes,daughter of the former ambassador to Israel and the Netherlands,Sir Ernest John Ward Barnes and Lady (Cynthia) Barnes of Hurstpierpoint. They have a son and two daughters.
|
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker and debt manager,and still one of the bankers for the Government of the United Kingdom,it is the world's eighth-oldest bank.
His Majesty's Treasury,occasionally referred to as the Exchequer,or more informally the Treasury,is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and economic policy. The Treasury maintains the Online System for Central Accounting and Reporting,the replacement for the Combined Online Information System,which itemises departmental spending under thousands of category headings,and from which the Whole of Government Accounts annual financial statements are produced.
NatWest Group PLC is a British banking and insurance holding company,based in Edinburgh,Scotland.
In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury,serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury,the Second Lord of the Treasury,and four or more junior lords acting as whips in the House of Commons to whom this title is usually applied.
The Keswick family are a business dynasty of Scottish origin associated with the Far East region since 1855 and in particular the conglomerate Jardine Matheson.
George Arbuthnot was a distinguished member of the permanent British civil service. He worked in the Treasury at the Colonial Office in Hong Kong when the HSBC charter was first drawn up;Arbuthnot Road,Hong Kong was named after him.
Paul Clive Deighton,Baron Deighton,KBE is a British Conservative politician who served as Commercial Secretary to HM Treasury from January 2013 to May 2015. Deighton is a former investment banker who previously served as Chief Executive of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG),the organisation responsible for planning the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Paul Myners,Baron Myners,was a British businessman and politician. In October 2008 he was elevated to the House of Lords as a life peer and was appointed City Minister in the Labour Government of Gordon Brown,serving until May 2010. As City Minister Myners was responsible for overseeing the financial services sector during the 2007–2008 financial crisis and its aftermath,including leading the controversial 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package. Myners sat in the House of Lords as a Labour peer until 2014,resigning to become a non-affiliated member before joining the crossbench group in 2015.
Nicholas Ian Macpherson,Baron Macpherson of Earl's Court,is a former senior British civil servant. He served as the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury from 2005 to 2016.
Sir Philip Roy Hampton is a British businessman. He was the first chairman of UK Financial Investments Limited in 2008 and chairman of government-owned The Royal Bank of Scotland Group between 2009 and 2015. He has also chaired GlaxoSmithKline and J Sainsbury.
Sir Howard John Davies is a British historian and author,who is the chairman of NatWest Group and the former director of the London School of Economics.
The Sassoon family were a wealthy Baghdadi Jewish family dynasty,associated with finance,banking,capital markets,the exploration of oil and gas,Judaism,Conservative politics,and philanthropy. Their principal vehicles,Sassoon &Co. and J. Sassoon Financial Group LLC,are domiciled in Europe,Asia and North America.
Ruth Jane Lea,Baroness Lea of Lymm,is a British parliamentarian and political economist.
Sir Richard John Broadbent is a British businessman and currently Chairman of HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
Sir Robin Francis Budenberg is a British corporate adviser. He was appointed non-executive Director of Lloyds Banking Group on 1 October 2020 and became Chairman on 4 January 2021 and was appointed Chairman of The Crown Estate on 9 August 2016.
Glen Richard Moreno is an American businessman. Moreno has worked for several large companies in the United States and the United Kingdom,and worked as acting-chairman of UK Financial Investments Limited which manages the British government's bank shareholdings. He has been Chairman of Virgin Money UK since May 2015.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom. It operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financial firms providing services to consumers and maintains the integrity of the financial markets in the United Kingdom.
Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited is a Hong Kong–based,Bermuda-domiciled British multinational conglomerate. It has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on the Singapore Exchange and Bermuda Stock Exchange. The majority of its business interests are in Asia,and its subsidiaries include Jardine Pacific,Jardine Motors,Hongkong Land,Jardine Strategic Holdings,DFI Retail Group,Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group,Jardine Cycle &Carriage and Astra International. It set up the Jardine Scholarship in 1982 and Mindset,a mental health-focused charity,in 2002.
Rothschild &Co is a multinational private and alternative assets investor,headquartered in Paris,France and London,England. It is the flagship of the Rothschild banking group controlled by the British and French branches of the Rothschild family.
Michael James Ellam is a British banker and former civil servant.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Media related to James Sassoon, Baron Sassoon at Wikimedia Commons