17 July 2012
The Rt Revd Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, has been invited to
sit on the Parliamentary Commission On Banking Standards. His
appointment to the Commission underlines the depth and value of the
non-partisan expertise the Lords Spiritual bring to their work in
the House of Lords.
The Commission will be chaired by Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of
the Commons Treasury Select Committee. The terms of reference set
out in the motion which established the Commission require it to
consider and report on 'professional standards and culture of the
UK banking sector, taking account of regulatory and competition
investigations into the Libor rate-setting process' and 'lessons to
be learned about corporate governance, transparency and conflicts
of interest, and their implications for regulation and for
Government policy'.
Following graduation, Bishop Justin spent most of his
professional life in business, including 11 years in the oil
industry. He was part of the senior management team of a large
British exploration and production company, responsible for its
financing operations, eventually becoming Group Treasurer of
Enterprise Oil PLC in 1984.
Notes
Bishop Justin has written widely on ethics and on finance,
working closely with Roman Catholic groups in Europe. He has
contributed to books such as Managing the Church?: Order and
Organization in a Secular Age and Explorations in
Financial Ethics. He also wrote Can Companies Sin?:
"Whether", "How" and "Who" in Company Accountability ,
published by Grove Books in 1992.
He was ordained in 1992, and appointed Dean of Liverpool in
2007. He was appointed Bishop of Durham - thus becoming a member of
the House of Lords ex officio - in 2011.