Three new non-executive directors to join Bank of England
LONDON (Reuters) - Three new non-executive directors have been appointed to the Bank of England's governing body, Britain's finance ministry said on Monday.
Dido Harding, chief executive of telecoms group TalkTalk; Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of electricity generator Drax; and Don Robert, chairman of credit checking company Experian, will join the BoE's Court of Directors from August.
"All three are highly qualified and experienced people who will strengthen and diversify the Bank's board," Chancellor George Osborne said in a statement.
Lawmakers have previously criticised the BoE's court for being too deferential to central bank officials. The court's role is to hold BoE policymakers to account but not to intervene in monetary policy decisions.
The Treasury also said Tim Frost, who chairs the financial data company Markit, had been reappointed for another term as a BoE non-executive director.
Last week nearly a third of Experian's shareholders failed to back Don Robert's appointment as company chairman after he served as chief executive - a change of roles that flies in the face of corporate governance guidelines.
About 70 percent of shareholders voted in favour of Don Robert's re-election as a director, in effect confirming his elevation to the chairmanship.
Experian had said in January that Roberts would replace John Peace as chairman. The Investment Management Association, an investment industry body, and the Institute of Directors, a lobby group for industry as a whole, had raised concerns about the plan.
(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
