Baroness Shriti Vadera (PPE, 1981), Chairman of Santander UK and Somerville alumna, is said to be leading the way in post Brexit Banking – the Financial Times labelling her ‘Baroness Brexit’ and ‘the queen of the City’s Brexit response effort.’
On Tuesday 28 June, Baroness Vadera chaired a meeting of banking industry representatives, organised by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), to discuss steps to maintain financial stability and protect jobs in the wake of the vote to exit the EU.
Baroness Vadera has also set up a taskforce, called the European Financial Services Chairman’s Advisory Committee, which includes Robert Rooney, the head of Morgan Stanley, David Roberts of Nationwide, Aviva’s Adrian Montagu and Elizabeth Corley of Allianz Global Investors. Anthony Browne, Chief Executive of the BBA, is also co-ordinating with Baroness Vadera’s team.
According to the Financial Times, this task force is set to try and persuade the Brexit cabinet committee to adopt a European Union deal similar to the Swiss model when the UK leaves the EU. This would see certain sectors awarded the right to trade with the EU on a bespoke basis and would allow some sectors the right to continue to have access to the single market if they agreed to follow regulatory requirements set by the EU.
Anthony Browne, Chief Executive of the BBA and a member of Vadera’s group, said: ‘Both sides have an interest in making this work, as it is not in the interests of the other EU countries to be cut off from their main financial centre, especially at a time they are all seeking to boost economic growth.’
Baroness Vadera, who is also an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College, is a former UBS Warburg investment banker and Labour Party Minister. She advised the South Korean government on its chairing of the G20 and the government of Dubai on its restructuring of Dubai World’s debt.
She was born in Uganda and she brought up in India and Britain after the dictator Idi Amin expelled her family in 1972. Now at Santander UK, Baroness Vadera is the first woman to be appointed Chair of a major UK bank.