Sarah Breeden to be new BoE deputy governor

London Business School alumna Sarah Breeden, MSc Finance, Distinction. LBS, 1997, is to be appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of England with responsibility for Financial Stability.

Taking up her position as the Bank’s Deputy Governor for Financial Stability from 1 November 2023, Sarah will play a crucial role in ensuring the safety and stability of the UK’s financial sector and will sit on the Financial Policy Committee (and chair it in the Governor’s absence) the Monetary Policy Committee and the Prudential Regulation Committee.

Breeden will also play a key role in providing a link between financial stability and monetary policy and will be a member of the Court of the Bank of England, Chair the Financial Market Infrastructure Board, and represent the Bank of England on a number of national and international bodies.

The appointment comes at a crucial time for the government’s plans to launch a central bank digital currency, which is designed to create an ultra-safe form of money for British households.

The Treasury announced that Breeden, who led the Bank’s response to the Northern Rock crisis in 2007, would take over from Sir Jon Cunliffe, who has been one of the Bank’s three deputy governors since 2013 and was in charge of financial stability. Cunliffe is retiring after a decade at the Bank.

Speaking about Ms Breeden’s appointment at the Bank of England, Richard Portes, Professor of Economics at London Business School said - ‘This is an excellent appointment. We have seen often the importance of financial stability and macroprudential policy. Sarah Breeden has deep experience on these key issues and should inspire confidence in the Bank’s policies. Of course, her studies at London Business School gave her the right intellectual base, as they did for Fabio Panetta, the incoming Governor of the Bank of Italy.

Professor Sir Andrew Likierman, former Dean and who has been a Director of the Bank of England commented ‘We know that those who graduate from our degree programmes go on to do impressive things in many different fields but Sarah Breeden’s appointment to this key position is a matter of particular pride for the LBS community. As well as her leading roles in banking supervision, financial regulation and the effects of climate change, she was directly involved in helping to steer the financial system through the 2007-8 financial crisis. I, and I’m sure all of us at LBS, wish her the very best in her new role.’