Bank deputy governor admits code of conduct breach over brother's Barclays role

The Bank of England's newly appointed deputy governor has admitted breaching the Bank's guidelines after she failed to declare that her brother worked for Barclays.

In a letter to the Treasury Select Committee, Charlotte Hogg apologised for not formally disclosing that her brother was the banking giant's director of group strategy, which could conflict with her work on the Prudential Regulation Committee (PRC).

The apology comes after Ms Hogg, who has been touted as a possible successor to Bank governor Mark Carney, told the committee at a hearing last week that she always declared areas of conflicts of interests and was compliant with all of the Bank's codes of conduct because she helped to write them.

The PRC has direct responsibility for regulating banks, including Barclays.

In the letter, Ms Hogg wrote: "As Barclays Bank plc is regulated by the PRA, under the Bank's internal code of conduct and personal relationships policy, I should have formally declared my brother's role when I first joined the Bank.

"I did not do so and I take full responsibility for this oversight. I have now added a full record of my brother's role in the Bank's HR systems.

"Regrettably, my oversight means that my oral evidence to the committee in this respect was not accurate. I write now to correct that evidence at the earliest opportunity and to place on record my sincere apologies to the committee."

The committee made the letter public during a session with the chairman and the deputy chairman of the Court of the Bank of England.

Court chairman Anthony Habgood said he was "very concerned" about it and decided the "best thing to do" was to write to the committee and admit the mistake.

"She's clearly going to sit on the newly-formed PRC and such a relationship should be declared for obvious reasons."

He added: "It's a very serious breach."

To comply with the Bank's code, Ms Hogg should have declared the potential conflict of interest when she joined the Bank as chief operating office in July 2013.