Sonya Branch
General counsel
Bank of England
How has the financial services industry responded to the changes brought about by Brexit?
We were very active, very early on, in trying to come to a manageable plan of action – in building a transitional regime and a temporary permissions regime, and the approach we took to Nationalising the Acquis to allow for the financial services sector to make the requisite changes in time. Largely, the impact has been managed as far as possible. That’s not to say firms don’t face considerable ongoing efforts to be ready for the end of the implementation period, but we’re fortunate in that for the UK financial services sector there’s been a clear plan of action and firms have been engaged with regulators throughout.
How do you prepare for the transition to a new governor?
We’re entirely focused on making sure that Mark [Carney] has a very smooth exit and that takes a particular focus, but also that Andrew [Bailey] is fully briefed and ready for all his key first engagements, such as his first select committee and first statutory committee. His efforts throughout the financial crisis are almost legendary in the bank, for the sheer amount of commitment over such a period of time to trying to do the right thing and rescue the economy: he has a huge bedrock of loyalty here.
What other projects have the team been involved in?
The day job as well as a vast range of priorities, such as supporting individual insurer and firm supervision, the real-time gross settlement renewal programme and supporting the statutory committees on their priorities. We’ve had some big-ticket work this year in things like the character selection of the next £50 note and making sure that the Public Sector Equality Duty was through the seam of how that process worked. I sat with the governor in the final character selection meeting to make sure the Equality Act considerations were front of mind right to the very end.
The £50 note process must have been fun?
There are so many privileges about this role, but that was one of the highlights. I could not have been more delighted by the character selected [pioneering mathematician Alan Turing]. It was somewhat frustrating sitting as the legal adviser because I was desperate to throw my support into the discussion.
How do you find time for all of this?
That’s before we get to any of the sensitive stuff. It is an enormously busy directorate – we’re very stretched at the moment. However, I put a lot of emphasis on wellbeing and life-work balance across the team. One of the things we have as a leadership team when we meet every week, and the only thing fixed on the agenda, is a temperature check: what’s keeping us busy, what’s worrying us as a leadership team, but also to pick up on individual pastoral issues across our staff. I also suspect that the work we’re doing is rewarding in itself for our colleagues because it is so intellectually stimulating. That has its own momentum and its own motivation.
How has the financial services industry responded to the changes brought about by Brexit?
We were very active, very early on, in trying to come to a manageable plan of action – in building a transitional regime and a temporary permissions regime, and the approach we took to Nationalising the Acquis to allow for the financial services sector to make the requisite changes in time. Largely, the impact has been managed as far as possible. That’s not to say firms don’t face considerable ongoing efforts to be ready for the end of the implementation period, but we’re fortunate in that for the UK financial services sector there’s been a clear plan of action and firms have been engaged with regulators throughout.
How do you prepare for the transition to a new governor?
We’re entirely focused on making sure that Mark [Carney] has a very smooth exit and that takes a particular focus, but also that Andrew [Bailey] is fully briefed and ready for all his key first engagements, such as his first select committee and first statutory committee. His efforts throughout the financial crisis are almost legendary in the bank, for the sheer amount of commitment over such a period of time to trying to do the right thing and rescue the economy: he has a huge bedrock of loyalty here.
What other projects have the team been involved in?
The day job as well as a vast range of priorities, such as supporting individual insurer and firm supervision, the real-time gross settlement renewal programme and supporting the statutory committees on their priorities. We’ve had some big-ticket work this year in things like the character selection of the next £50 note and making sure that the Public Sector Equality Duty was through the seam of how that process worked. I sat with the governor in the final character selection meeting to make sure the Equality Act considerations were front of mind right to the very end.
The £50 note process must have been fun?
There are so many privileges about this role, but that was one of the highlights. I could not have been more delighted by the character selected [pioneering mathematician Alan Turing]. It was somewhat frustrating sitting as the legal adviser because I was desperate to throw my support into the discussion.
How do you find time for all of this?
That’s before we get to any of the sensitive stuff. It is an enormously busy directorate – we’re very stretched at the moment. However, I put a lot of emphasis on wellbeing and life-work balance across the team. One of the things we have as a leadership team when we meet every week, and the only thing fixed on the agenda, is a temperature check: what’s keeping us busy, what’s worrying us as a leadership team, but also to pick up on individual pastoral issues across our staff. I also suspect that the work we’re doing is rewarding in itself for our colleagues because it is so intellectually stimulating. That has its own momentum and its own motivation.