Andrew Large

Sir Andrew McLeod Brooks Large (born 7 August 1942) was Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, and a member of its Monetary Policy Committee from September 2002 to January 2006.

Early life and education

Andrew McLeod Brooks Large was born in 1942, the son of Major General Stanley Eyre Large, MBE and Janet Mary Brooks. He attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, for university, taking an honours B.A. degree.

Large began his career with British Petroleum, where he worked from 1964 to 1971. BP put him in marketing, sent him to Malaysia, and then to the business school INSEAD, where he got his MBA in 1970.

Career

In 1971 Large began his career as an investment banker that lasted for 20 years, first at Orion Bank and then at the Swiss Bank Corporation, where he served on the management board from 1987 to 1989 (the only non-Swiss person on the executive team). In 1988 he was appointed chairman of The Securities Association (TSA) set up in advance of the Financial Services Act of 1986 at the time of the "Big Bang" of the 1980s as well as a seat on the Takeovers Panel. Large stopped short of proposing the end of the self-regulation among asset managers that had been established in the 1980s, he suggested more SIB leadership. As SIB Chair, Large started the reforming the SIB; instead of conducting the "Maxwell witch-hunt that ministers demanded", he combined "lighter regulation with stricter disclosure and tougher penalties". Large resigned in 1997, after the general election that ushered in a new Chancellor named Gordon Brown who wanted to ramp up financial regulation. At the same time he, served as the Managing Director of the IMF's Capital Markets Consultative Group between 1999 and 2002, and chaired for the Group of Thirty a global report into strengthening the global financial market infrastructure for clearing and settlement.

In September 2002, Governor of the Bank of England Edward George announced that Large had accepted to serve as Deputy Governor, a choice some reports described as "unexpected".

Large served as Warden of Winchester College, his alma mater, until September 2008. Additionally, he also chaired the INSEAD Advisory Council (where he got his MBA) and was a member of the INSEAD Board from 1998 to 2010. He collects ancient varieties of apple trees which he grows at his home in Wales and is President of the Marcher Apple Network, "group of apple enthusiasts keen to revive old varieties of apples and pears" that has turned into a charity that "strives to protect these varieties in a number of different ways".