Nigel Wicks

Sir
Nigel Wicks
GCB CVO CBE
Sir Nigel Wicks GCB CVO CBE
Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
	In office; 1985–1988
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Robin Butler
Succeeded by	Andrew Turnbull
Personal details
Born	Nigel Leonard Wicks; 16 June 1940 (age 84)
Children	3
Education	Beckenham and Penge Grammar School
Alma mater	Portsmouth College of Technology
Occupation	Finance
Awards	CBE (1979) ; CVO (1989) ; KCB (1992) ; GCB (1999)

Sir Nigel Leonard Wicks GCB CVO CBE (born 16 June 1940) is a British financier and former senior British civil servant. He also served as Chairman of Euroclear.^[1]^[2]

Career

Educated originally at Beckenham and Penge Grammar School, Wicks joined BP in 1958 at the age of 18.^[3] Whilst at BP, Wicks studied for a University of London external MA in business administration at the Portsmouth College of Technology, now part of the University of Portsmouth.^[4]

After 10 years at BP, Wicks joined HM Treasury in 1968.^[1] At the Treasury, Wicks undertook a number of positions including secondments to the Prime Minister's Office as a Private Secretary to the Prime Minister (1975–1978, under Callaghan and Wilson) and at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C. as Economic Minister (and so the UK's Executive Director of the IMF and IBRD) from 1983–1985.^[1]^[3]

In 1985, Wicks took up his position as Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, a post he held for three years until returning to the Treasury as Second Permanent Secretary with responsibility for International Finance, where he remained for twelve years until reaching mandatory retirement age in 2000.^[1]^[4] After Wicks' retirement, the Treasury's International Finance command was merged into that of Macro-Economic Policy, led by Gus O'Donnell (later The Lord O'Donnell).^[5]

After retirement, Wicks moved into finance; he served as Chairman of CRESTCo for a year from 2001 until it merged with Euroclear, where he was Deputy chairman 2002–2006 and since then as chairman. Wicks also served as a non-executive director of Morgan Stanley for three years from 2004, and of the Edinburgh Investment Trust since 2005.^[1]^[4]

In public appointments, Wicks was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life from 2001–2004, as Chair of the panel appointing the initial members of the then-new Judicial Appointments Commission in 2005, and since 2007 has been Commissioner of the Jersey Financial Services Commission.^[1]^[3]

In October 2012, Wicks was appointed chairman of the British Bankers' Association.

Personal life

As well as his MA degree from the University of London, Wicks holds an MA degree from the University of Cambridge, and honorary LLD degrees from the Universities of Bath and Portsmouth. He is married with three sons.^[1]^[3]

Wicks was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in Prime Minister Callaghan's Resignation Honours list in 1979,^[6] a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 1989 New Year Honours,^[7] and a Knight Commander (KCB) in the 1992 New Year Honours,^[8] and then promoted to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 1999 New Year Honours.^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "WICKS, Sir Nigel (Leonard)". Who's Who 2012, online edition. A & C Black. 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
^ "Our man in Brussels faces two ways". The Independent. 19 November 1996. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Sir Nigel Wicks". Eurofi.net. Retrieved 24 April 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ ^a ^b ^c "Speaker Biography – Sir Nigel Wicks". 2002. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
^ HM Treasury (April 2002). "Annual Report, 2001/02" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2009. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
^ "No. 55354". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 1979. p. 2.
^ "No. 51578". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1988. p. 4.
^ "No. 52767". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1991. p. 3.
^ "No. 55354". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1998. p. 3.

Positions held

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Unknown	Economic Minister, British Embassy in Washington, D.C. 1983–1985	Succeeded by Unknown
Government offices
Preceded by Robin Butler	Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister 1985–1988	Succeeded by Andrew Turnbull
Preceded by Robin Butler	Second Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury 1988–2000	Succeeded by Gus O'Donnell as managing director, Macro-Economic Policy and International Finance
Preceded by The Lord Neill of Bladen	Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life 2001–2004	Succeeded by Sir Alistair Graham
Business positions
Preceded by Scott Dobbie	Chairman, CRESTCo 2001–2002	Succeeded by Pierre Francotte as Chairman, Euroclear UK & Ireland
New title Position created after merger with CRESTCo	Deputy Chairman, Euroclear 2002–2005	Succeeded by Jean-Jacques Verdickt
Preceded by Chris Tupker	Chairman, Euroclear 2006–2012	Succeeded by Marc Antoine Autheman
Preceded by Marcus Agius	Chairman, British Bankers Association 2012–	Incumbent