Hector Sants - the former head of the City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) - is to become a game keeper turned poacher after being appointed as the head of compliance at Barclays.
Sants will liaise with regulators, ensure regulations are followed and will be responsible for monitoring questionable trading in the newly created role for Barclays.
The high street bank was tarnished in a major scandal over the summer after UK and US regulators fined the bank £290 million for manipulating Libor - the interbank lending rate.
Sants said in a statement on Wednesday: "I left the FSA with the intention of finding a role which would allow me to put into practice the experience I have gained in both the public and private sector."
Previous press reports had also lined up the former regulator with a role at accountancy giant Deloitte. He wasn't expected to make a decision until early next year, when a period of gardening leave after his time at the FSA expires.
Sants stepped down from the FSA in June, the same month in which the regulator fined Barclays £59.5m for manipulating the interbank borrowing rate Libor.
In September, Sants released correspondence with Barclays to Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, in which it emerged that he had raised profound concerns about the culture and governance arrangements at Barclays when Bob Diamond was appointed as the bank’s chief executive in 2010.
Reaction to the news on Twitter this morning has been one of surprise and of scepticism.
Barclays chief executive Anthony Jenkins said it was important for a “cultural change" to take place to ensure the bank became the “go-to" financial institution for all its stakeholders.
“Our people always acting in the right way in all of our interactions will be central to our culture – simply how we do business – but it is important to bolster that with the second line of defence provided by controls and a world class compliance function,” he said.
“In appointing this new senior role, and making these structural and reporting line changes, I want to do two things. The principal one is to create the conditions whereby a world class compliance function can flourish, and the second is to send a clear signal of intent in terms of my personal commitment to delivering a culture in Barclays where compliance is universally welcomed and observed."
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