Location: UK: London (Threadneedle Street)

Opportunity: Supported hiring into permanent roles

Starts: ASAP

Apply by: 3 May 2022 (Extended)

*Applications have now closed*

The Bank of England is recruiting Lead Policy Analysts – Payment and Innovation in its Financial Market Infrastructure Directorate (FMID) and welcomes professionals who have taken an extended career break to apply for these roles. Successful hires who have taken a career break of 2+ years will receive coaching support through the transition period from Women Returners.

The Bank of England is the UK’s central bank. Their mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the British people.

The Bank of England is a diverse organisation. Each of its 4,000 plus people are committed to public service and dedicated to promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability.

The Bank has hired a large number of returners over the last few years. Read Melissa’s story here. Learn more about working at the Bank here.

Directorate Overview

In Financial Market Infrastructure Directorate (FMID) you will join a directorate leading on some of the most innovative and important changes in today’s financial system. FMID is responsible for supervision, policy and technical risk analysis on the infrastructure that sits at the core of the financial system – including systemically important payment systems, central counter-parties and central securities depositories. They offer an outstanding and exciting place to work in a highly collaborative directorate, undertaking work with links to numerous other parts of the Bank and international regulators. For more information on the work they do, see their latest annual report available Here

FMID is unique within the Bank in that it brings together supervisors, policy analysts and risk specialists in one place. This means there are plenty of opportunities for cross-cutting working and the opportunity to understand linkages of the financial system and get an insight into how different areas of the Bank work.

In recent years, the directorate has been at the centre of numerous high profile workstreams, with significant interaction with Governors, the Financial Policy Committee and international fora. FMID plays a principle part in responding to rapid innovation in payments that could potentially reshape the financial system; implementing and safeguarding the move to encourage/require greater central clearing of derivatives, one of the most significant reforms to emerge after the 2008 crisis; and avoiding some of the most significant risks identified by the Bank’s Financial Policy Committee in relation to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. They also support the Chair of the global standard setting body for financial market infrastructures (FMIs) – the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI). There are plenty of opportunities for working across subject areas and to play a key role in setting the forward agenda on resilience for FMIs.

FMID is passionate about delivering the Bank’s diversity agenda – retaining and attracting diverse talent and ensuring that the directorate is somewhere that all staff feel they belong. FMID supports flexible working. You can do this job as a job-share, and they are open to discussing other ways to structure the role to accommodate part-time work patterns.

Job description

Financial market infrastructures are seeing significant innovation. In payments, crypto technology is seeking to provide a new way for firms and households to transfer value, for example using ‘stablecoins’ which aim to maintain a stable value and to be widely used for payments. Moreover, traditional payments chains are being ‘unbundled’ as new types of firms such as aggregators and acquirers take on critical roles performed by traditional financial institutions such as banks. New technology such as distributed ledgers is also being used in other financial market infrastructures to increase functionality and efficiency.

As the UK’s regulator of systemic FMIs, the Bank of England is developing the regulatory response to these developments. They are developing the UK’s regulatory regime for systemic stablecoins in order to make sure people can have confidence in the money they are using no matter what technology it is based on. They are examining how the payments regime could be adapted to the unbundling of traditional payments chains. And they are considering how distributed ledger technology could be used in a way that promotes innovation while also maintaining the resilience of systemically important FMIs.

They are looking for payments and innovation analysts to join growing teams developing their regulatory response. They have Lead Policy Analyst vacancies available in two teams that sit at the heart of their FMI Regulation Division:

• their Payments Policy Team; and
• their Governance, Operational Resilience and Innovation Policy Team.

Both teams are growing to support the delivery of some of the Bank’s strategic priorities.

The Payments Policy Team plays a key role in delivering the Bank’s strategic priority to shape the regulatory response to innovation in payments. They focus on the design of policy for existing payments systems as well as respond to innovation in how people and businesses pay for goods and services.  In particular, they are currently developing the regulatory regime for systemic stablecoins.  You can read more about their work in the discussion paper on new forms of digital money, as well as HM Treasury’s Payments Landscape Review to support and reform the current payments ecosystem in the UK.

The Governance, Operational Resilience and Innovation Policy Team is a new team that will focus on policy issues relevant to all financial market infrastructures. This includes the creation of a Senior Manager Certification Regime for FMIs, and the safe application of new technology such as distributed ledgers to FMIs. The team will also play an important role in delivering the Bank’s strategic priority to establish a robust regulatory regime for a post-Brexit world. This includes implementation of the Future Regulatory Framework for FMIs, such as putting the FMI Board on a statutory footing, and responsibility for developing the rulebook for central counter-parties and central securities depositories. As one of the first people to join this new team, you will have the opportunity to work with the manager to shape the direction of the team.

As a Lead Policy Analyst, you will report into one of the team’s managers. You will use your analytical skills and knowledge of the financial system to deliver policy recommendations. The specific projects will depend on your background and demands on the team, but could include topics such as horizon scanning to identify potentially systemic payment firms; developing their regulatory approach to wallets and exchanges;  ensuring that new technology is applied to FMIs in a way that improves their resilience; influencing the post-Brexit regulatory framework for FMIs.

You will take ownership for taking forward specific aspects of the regulatory framework. You will undertake analysis of key issues and policy questions, draft clear papers for the Bank’s senior committees (e.g. Financial Policy Committee, and FMI Board). You will also support presentations to the senior committees, developing narratives, drafting speaking notes, preparing slides, answering questions from the committees.

You might also get involved in work to help develop the Bank’s positions on payments issues in international fora; and support the Executive Director and other senior staff when they are representing the Bank, for example at the Financial Stability Board or Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures.

You will collaborate closely with and support other teams in the Bank leading work in this area. This could include topics like the implications of new forms of money for the Bank’s own balance sheet, monetary stability and financial stability; and policy design of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

All this means you’ll get plenty of opportunities to develop your technical and interpersonal skills through exposure to engaging and complex issues.

You will be considered for roles in both Payments Policy Team and the Governance, Operational Resilience and Innovation Policy Team. You will be able to express a preference through the recruitment process.

Role Requirements

If you’re motivated to work for them, they would love to work with you! They want inquisitive people who enjoy working with others and share their values of diverse ideas and open debate. They are more interested in what you can bring than what you know. You don’t need a background in the financial sector to thrive there provided you’re a quick learner who’s able to analyse problems and make good judgements. You also need to be genuinely interested in policy issues and feel excited by the opportunity to protect the UK economy by keeping the backbone of the financial system secure and reliable.

• A keen curiosity about financial stability issues and financial market infrastructure.
• Strong analytical skills and sound judgement, including the ability to interpret complex and sometimes conflicting or incomplete evidence and data and translate it into clear sets of policy options and recommendations.
• Ability to quickly develop expertise in new topics and to work independently and drive forward projects.
• Ability to think creatively and find answers to novel questions
• Ability to communicate and present complex information effectively, both in writing and verbally, including to senior audiences.

Desirable Criteria

Knowledge and/or experience in one of the following areas would be helpful in the role:

• prudential regulation and standards for financial services firms; or
• payment systems, in terms of how they operate and/or how they are regulated; or
• technology-enabled financial innovation, which is changing the way financial institutions provide – and consumers and businesses use – financial services (FinTech);
• operational risk; or
• international policy making.

These could be from previous roles in policy, supervision, risk, industry or personal interest.

The ability to effectively manage relationships with multiple stakeholders would also be useful.

You should not be put off applying if you do not meet all of the above criteria. They would encourage you to get in touch to discuss what support you might need to close any gaps and/or any other skills you might have which you think could be helpful in role. They employ people from all backgrounds to join their diverse and inclusive teams. FMID is happy to build roles around individuals rather than fit successful candidates into pre-determined fixed roles and therefore there may be flex around the responsibilities outlined. They also have a long history of training and developing staff from a variety of previous careers to help them succeed in their roles. This includes both formal training as well as learning on the job, with support of your colleagues, who are very approachable and keen to share their knowledge and experience.

Their Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

The Bank values diversity and inclusion – they want to reflect the society they serve better, they want the best people to work for them and they want their workplace to be inclusive. They value all forms of diversity, including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion and sexual orientation. One way they support diversity and inclusion is through their staff-run networks, which are summarised here. Their Executive Director, Christina Segal-Knowles, is also an executive sponsor of the Women in the Bank network. And they all have specific and actionable objectives related to diversity and inclusion. In the directorate, their particular focus is on colleagues’ sense of belonging and empowerment, and on nimble approach to work.

This role is open to job shares, flexible and part time working patterns. This is something they strongly support in FMID, with a number of colleagues at different level of seniority working part time. For example, the role of the Head of the Regulation Division, which you would join, is currently a job share.

They encourage applications from professionals returning to work after a long career break and are committed to providing support to ensure a successful transition.

They are also committed to making adjustments for candidates and employees where possible, and they have partnered with external expert organisations to support them in this. They are a member of the Disability Confident scheme, summarised here. If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.

Reward Package

To Apply