Bank of England insider Sarah Breeden named as its new deputy governor

A senior insider at the Bank of England has been named as its new deputy governor.

Sarah Breeden led the Bank’s response to the Northern Rock crisis in 2007 and will take over from Sir Jon Cunliffe, who has been in the role since 2013. 

She will sit on the rate-setting monetary policy committee and financial policy committee.

One of the Bank’s biggest tasks is to return inflation to its 2 per cent target from its most recent reading of 7.9 per cent.

She will also sit on the Prudential Regulation Committee and help influence the UK’s policy around the highly contentious regulation of cryptocurrencies.

Governor Andrew Bailey said Breedon would bring a ‘wealth of financial and economic policy knowledge to the role, both domestically and internationally’. 

Mark Carney, the Bank’s former governor, said on Twitter that Breeden was a ‘fantastic choice’, describing her as ‘smart, decisive, cool under pressure’ and a ‘foremost expert in financial stability, markets and climate’. 

The Bank of England has had other female deputy governors since it gained independence, including Charlotte Hogg, Minouche Shafik and Rachel Lomax.

Hogg resigned just two weeks into the job after she failed to disclose that her brother worked for Barclays, which is regulated by the Bank.

Hogg’s predecessor, Shafik, left halfway through her five-year term to head up the London School of Economics.

Breeden, who studied at Cambridge University, lives in Wimbledon and has two adult daughters. 

She joined the Bank in 1991 as assistant private secretary to the governor, working her way up the ranks over the next 30 years.

Working across various departments of the Bank, she had been picked by then governor Mervyn King in 2007 to head the team charged with dealing with the Northern Rock fallout during the financial crisis.

In her new role, she will be charged with plans to create a digital pound by the end of the decade, which the Bank and Treasury have said they will make a final decision on by 2025.

Commenting on her appointment, she said it was an ‘honour and a privilege to take up this role,’ which she will start on November 1. She will serve for five years.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: ‘I am pleased to appoint Sarah Breeden who brings extensive experience to the role including from her work as a member of the FPC and across monetary, economic and financial matters.’