Who is Julia Hoggett? An introduction to the new London Stock Exchange chief executive

The operator of the London Stock Exchange has announced that it has selected a new chief executive.

The appointment of regulation expert Julia Hoggett got the City talking (remotely) on Monday, so we thought we would give a brief introduction to the London exchange's new boss...

The Appointment:

When she takes up her new role next spring, Julia Hoggett will oversee the UK capital’s main market. The LSE is owned by the London Stock Exchange Group, and in her new role the former banker will report to Murray Roos, group director of capital markets at the Group.  

Hoggett, who comes straight from the role of director of market oversight at industry regulator the Financial Conduct Authority, will take over from interim chief executive Denzil Jenkins, who is to continue in the post in the meantime. Jenkins took over after Nikhil Rathi left to take up a top role at the FCA earlier this year.

In a statement released this morning, Hoggett said: “I am delighted to be joining London Stock Exchange plc, and the wider Group, at a time when London’s role as a global financial centre is so important.  

“Clean and transparent markets are the underpinning of a vibrant and dynamic marketplace and will remain a huge focus.”

Commenting on her appointment, Roos said: “Julia brings to the Group a deep understanding of primary and secondary markets from both the regulatory and commercial sector.

“I look forward to working with Julia as we continue to build on our position as a leading financial markets infrastructure business and the world’s international exchange.”

In her regulatory role at the FCA, Hoggett has worked on issues affecting the financial sector arising from the Brexit vote. More recently, she has been vocal on the need for enforcing stringent regulation and oversight now that many financial services firms are operating remotely.  

The Background

In addition to holding the high-up FCA role, Hoggett previously held senior roles at institutions including Bank of America Merrill Lynch and J.P.Morgan.

The 47-year-old will not be the first woman to take up the top role at the LSE, as she follows in the footsteps of Dame Clara Furse, who ran the exchange from 2001 until 2009.

But the former banker, who has been a vocal advocate for the rights of women, LGBTQ+ people and minorities in the workplace, will be the first openly gay person to hold the role.

It has been reported that Hoggett, a mother-of-two, helped to organise the first ever dedicated gay and lesbian recruiting event in the City of London while working at J.P. Morgan.  

The new LSE chief splits her time between Dublin and London, where she lives with her partner, Wendy, on the same street as her mother - the trailblazing judge Lady Brenda Hale.

Hale is the Supreme Court president who delivered the ruling that Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue parliament in 2019 was unlawful.

She became the first female member of Britain's highest court when she was appointed to the House of Lords as a Lord of Appeal in 2004, and later went on to become President of the Supreme Court, which she joined at its foundation in 2009.