Sir Andrew Large

MBA’70

Deputy Governor, Bank of England

Sir Andrew read Economics at Cambridge and joined BP straight out of University.

“I had been at BP for six or seven years but was always interested in getting an MBA, especially in an international environment. People were clearly inspired by Insead so it was the obvious choice and I applied. BP chose one graduate each year to go to business school and I was working in Singapore when the call came through. I had to stop learning Mandarin and get up to speed with a crash course in German fast! You then needed English, French and German to get in and lectures were in any of the three languages.”

Sir Andrew graduated from INSEAD and went back to BP.

“During my year at INSEAD my eyes had been opened to the financial world, so I asked if I could be moved onto the financial side of BP. But in those days you had to be an accountant before that could happen. So after a year or so I left and joined a new investment bank, Orion, before moving to join Swiss Bank Corporation, where I eventually was asked in 1987 to be the first non-Swiss as one of its managing directors.”

Up to 1992 he also served on a number of Boards including Nuclear Electric, English China Clays and Ranks Hovis McDougall.

Sir Andrew’s career then oscillated between private and public sector. His first spell of public policy was from 1992-1997 when he was Chairman of the Securities and Investments Board, predecessor of the Financial Services Authority [FSA].

During an interlude back on the private side he was Deputy Chairman of Barclays Bank from 1998-2002. During this period he was also Chairman of Euroclear, and he chaired a major project to strengthen global clearing and settlement.

Finally he was asked to be Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, with responsibility for financial stability from 2002 to 2006.

Today Sir Andrew acts independently advising central banks and others on financial stability issues.

Sir Andrew sits on the board of INSEAD. He has spoken at a number of INSEAD events and also given lectures at leadership summits in both Europe and Asia. He has also been involved in INSEAD’s academic and curriculum planning. “This crisis has shown so clearly that business leaders simply have to be better prepared for handling the interface between public policy and the commercial world. This needs better mutual understanding of common goals between both the two sides. INSEAD can play a leading role here.”

“I think I have been incredibly lucky throughout my career. I couldn’t have asked for a broader set of organisations to work for, or challenges to face. And all of them have been part of the global scene. It’s been quite a privilege all round - whether in commercial life building capital market activities, getting big banks to confront their risks; or on the public policy side in leading efforts in the field of regulation and financial stability. I am now 67 years old and no doubt one day I’d like to slow down a bit. But I hope I can still make a contribution to the debate on the interface between public policy and the commercial world and to shaping regulatory and public policy issues.”

“Above all INSEAD taught me that if you want to act on a global basis you have to build up mutual understanding of different people, countries and cultures. I am a citizen of the UK and have hugely valued living here. But the UK has really been for me a welcome sort of aircraft carrier. My real focus has been on the outside world and the missions out and back.”

Sir Andrew was knighted in 1996.