Gissajob!

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

 

More than 100 people have applied for what is probably the most powerful non-executive directorship in the country, as a director of the Court of the Bank of England.

The posts - there are two vacancies - were advertised for the first time ever by the Treasury last month and an official said the response had been "very positive indeed".

The Treasury is now weeding out the more-obvious green-ink applications and will have a shortlist prepared soon with the selected candidates moving on to the interview stage. It is hoped that the final two choices will be made by the end of this month.

The vacancies arose on the retirement from the Court of Sir Colin Southgate, chairman of EMI and the Royal Opera House, and Sir David Lees, chairman of GKN and Tate & Lyle, who had both completed their maximum two three-year terms of office.

The Treasury advertisement said: "The posts require persons of undisputed integrity, understanding and authority."

It also made it clear that Court members serve in a personal capacity, not as representatives of particular interest groups or organisations. The Court is meant to be representative of the whole economy, geographically and sectorally, across industry, commerce and finance.

Given Southgate and Lees' backgrounds the new appointments are also expected to come from the ranks of the captains of industry. The advertisement stated: "Candi-dates will have substantial business experience either as chair or chief executive of a large organisation or by having built up a significant enterprise themselves."

The Court is responsible for managing the affairs of the Bank and has particular responsibility for its performance and controls. It also reviews the procedures of the monetary policy committee but has no involvement in interest rate or monetary policy decisions.

The Court meets for one morning each month and its directors receive an annual fee of £5000, about a fifth of what a non-executive of a fairly small public company might expect to receive. Directors can also be asked to sit on the Court's audit and remuneration sub-committees and some of them are trustees of the Bank's pension fund.

Governor Eddie George and his deputies David Clementi and Mervyn King are the only executive members of the Court. The 16-strong group of non-executives includes Frances Heaton, Andrew Buxton, Howard Davies, and Bill Morris.

Appointments are made by the Queen.

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