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LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Chairmen and non-executivedirectors of insurance companies will be included in Britain'snew regime to make top financial officials accountable for theiractions, the Bank of England announced on Monday.
Britain is finalising a new Senior Persons Regime to make iteasier for key bank staff to be held to account by regulators.These include top executives, key non-executive directors thathead influential committees and senior traders.
Lawmakers have complained that few individuals were hauledover the coals after taxpayers had to rescue several lenders inthe 2007-09 financial crisis.
Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England deputy governor who headsthe central bank's supervisory arm, said on Monday thatchairmen, senior independent non-executives and chairs of keycommittees at insurers will also come under the new regime.
Appropriate and robust accountability for senior managers infinancial institutions is not a regulatory burden, Bailey said.
"Non-executive directors are also key in financialinstitutions: they must scrutinise effectively the way thesenior management team runs the business," Bailey said in anopinion piece in Monday's Financial Times.
At 1000 GMT on Monday the Bank of England will set out howthe new regime will apply to non-executive directors of banksand insurers.
British financial services minister Andrea Leadsom toldReuters this month the government will shortly endorse the newregime formally and announce how it will be phased in.
The new rules have raised concerns among bankers who sayelements such as the so-called reversal of the burden of proofwill make it harder to recruit top officials. An individual willbe sanctioned for rule breaches unless they can demonstrate thatthey took reasonable steps to stop or avoid a problem. (Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by David Goodman)
