146/97
21 November 1997
APPOINTMENT OF DEBT MANAGEMENT AGENCY CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Mike Williams of the Treasury has been appointed as Chief Executive of the debt management agency which is to be established on 1 April 1998.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. When the Chancellor announced on 6 May that the Bank of England would have operational independence for setting interest rates, he also said the Bank's role as the Government's agent for debt management, the sale of gilts, oversight of the gilts market and cash management would be transferred to the Treasury. A consultation document issued on 29 July proposed that this role should be carried out by an Executive Agency of the Treasury which would be responsible for:
Implementing the Government's annual borrowing programme in the gilts market;
Management and monitoring of the gilts market, particularly the market maker network and liaising with the Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Authority;
Gilt market and product development;
Marketing of gilts in the UK and abroad;
Providing advice on the overall shape and direction of the UK gilt portfolio and on the annual gilt borrowing programme;
Management of the Government's in-year cash position.
A response to the consultation exercise will be published shortly which will give more details of the timing of the Agency taking over its various operational duties.
2. The Agency will have between 20 and 30 staff and an annual budget of around œ3-4 million and will be located in or near the City. It will be staffed partly by secondees from the Bank of England and people on loan from the Treasury and partly by direct recruitment. A small team has already been set up as the nucleus of the new Agency and is working closely with the Bank to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements.
3. The Agency's objectives will be set by Ministers. Within the remit, the Chief Executive will carry full responsibility to deliver the objectives for in-year operational decisions on gilt borrowing. He will be the Agency Accounting Officer responsible to Parliament for the Gilt Edged Official Operations Account from which the annual borrowing programme flows.
4. Mike Williams is currently a Deputy Director in the Treasury's Finance, Regulation and Industry Directorate. He has had extensive experience of Government debt and equity sales under the privatisation programme and also has experience of debt management and monetary policy issues more generally. His current responsibilities include industrial and related policies aimed at improving UK economic performance, including the operation of markets.
5. Mike Williams is 49. He has over 20 years experience in Government policy work in the Treasury and spent a year on secondment to Price Waterhouse. Before joining the Treasury, he worked as a professional economist.