(Bloomberg) -- Andrea Enria, the Italian who led the European Central Bank’s financial watchdog until the end of last year, has joined the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority as a senior adviser.
The official started working for the regulatory arm of the Bank of England in recent weeks, according to the British monetary authority. “Andrea’s extensive global experience of financial regulation and supervision will make a useful contribution to the PRA’s work,” a BOE spokesperson said.
Enria, 63, has almost 40 years of experience in supervision and regulation, including a stint chairing the European Banking Authority, which coordinates the European Union’s banking policy and oversees the region’s biennial stress tests.
During his five-year term leading the ECB’s Supervisory Board, he was generally seen as fair, though he drew the ire of banks for a pandemic-era dividend ban.
Enria’s role at the PRA will include offering a different perspective and helping bolster the PRA’s engagement with institutions on their capital and liquidity perspectives, as well as contributing to thematic work.
The PRA oversees the financial safety and soundness of the UK’s largest lenders, insurers and investment firms — a group of around 1,500 companies. It is led by veteran civil servant Sam Woods.
The authority had a sometimes-tense relationship with the former Conservative government, which was thrown out of power in the July 4 general election, including public clashes over new insurance solvency standards and a proposal for the government to be able to intervene in regulation through a “call-in” power. That provision was ultimately dropped in favor of a secondary mandate to promote the competitiveness of the UK’s financial services industry.
Under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new Labour government, the PRA’s first big decision could revolve around whether it should press ahead with its plans to implement the latest global bank capital reforms in mid-2025, or to heed industry calls and follow the EU by delaying some elements until the outcome of the continued wrangling in the US becomes clear.
Other key PRA issues for this fiscal include advancing the “strong and simple” regime for smaller banks, which promised more proportionate regulation, and tweaking the ring-fencing regime that forces a separation of large banks’ retail businesses from their trading activities.
--With assistance from Nicholas Comfort.
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