Sarah Breeden

Executive Director for Financial Stability Strategy and Risk and a member of the Financial Policy Committee (FPC)

Sarah is the Executive Director for Financial Stability Strategy and Risk and a member of the Financial Policy Committee (FPC). The FPC is the United Kingdom’s ‘macroprudential’ authority. It is tasked by Parliament with guarding against the financial system damaging the wider economy. Sarah is responsible for the Bank of England’s work to deliver that objective.

Sarah also leads the Bank of England’s work on climate change, domestically and internationally, a role she has held since 2016. She has been a Steering Group member of the international central bank and supervisors’ Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) since its inception in 2017, and chaired its macrofinancial workstream from 2018 til early 2022.

Prior to her current role, Sarah was the Executive Director for UK Deposit Takers Supervision, responsible for the supervision of the UK’s banks, building societies and credit unions. Before that, she was Executive Director for International Banks Supervision, where having joined the directorate in 2015, she was responsible for supervision of the UK operations of international banks.

Before moving into supervision, Sarah was a Director in the Bank's Financial Stability Strategy and Risk Directorate, where she focused on developing the UK’s macroprudential policy making framework and supporting the Financial Policy Committee. Previously she was head of the division that assessed risks to financial stability from financial markets, the non-bank financial sector, and the real economy.

Sarah led the Bank’s work to support the transition of prudential regulation of banks and insurers from the Financial Services Authority to the Bank.

Prior to that she was head of the Bank’s Risk Management Division and head of Special Projects in the Markets Directorate, leading the design and risk management of financial market operations undertaken by the Bank including those launched during the financial crisis.