Yahoo Finance Two high-powered women join top Bank of England panel
A senior financier and top academic have won places on the Prudential Regulation Committee at the Bank of England, overseeing banks and financial markets.
Julia Black, a professor at the London School of Economics, and Jill May, an investment banker with 24 years of experience at SG Warburg and UBS, will each serve a three-year term on the PRC.
Their appointments, made by the Treasury, represent a victory for efforts to increase diversity at the top of the Bank.
Ms Black takes up the position on November 30 and Ms May starts on July 23.
They will take the number of women on the PRC to three, out of 12 members in total.
Their predecessors Charles Randell and David Thorburn have already left the PRC.
Treasury statistics show 20 women and 34 men applied for the vacancies.
Four women and three men were shortlisted for interview. They faced a panel of Lowri Khan from HM Treasury, Sir Dave Ramsden from the Bank of England, and John Cridland, chairman of Transport for the North and former head of the Confederation of British Industry.
They recommended the successful candidates to the Chancellor, who made the final decision.
It comes after the Bank and the Treasury ran into controversy when appointing Professor Jonathan Haskel to the Monetary Policy Committee at the end of May.
His experience and CV are impeccable and his knowledge of the productivity challenge facing the economy made him the best candidate.
Yet his appointment meant there was just one woman on the nine-strong MPC. In that instance he was the only man who made it to the interview stage when four women were also questioned.
At the time Rachel Reeves, the MP who chairs the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said it was “truly staggering that the Treasury has failed to appoint a women to this role".
Earlier last month the Bank’s deputy governor Ben Broadbent was criticised for describing the economy as “menopausal”.
Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, said: “Julia’s extensive knowledge of financial regulation and Jill’s impressive career will be valuable assets to the vital work of the Committee.”
