Sir Howard Davies

Howard Davies is Chairman of Inigo Insurance Ltd and, since January 2026, of the Philharmonia Orchestra. He was Chairman of the NatWest Group (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland) from 1 September 2015 to 15 April 2024. Previously, Howard was Chairman of the Phoenix Group between October 2012 and August 2015. He chaired the UK Airports Commission from 2012-15 and was the Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science from 2003 until May 2011. Prior to that appointment Howard chaired the UK Financial Services Authority, then the single regulator for the UK financial services sector, from 1997 to 2003.


Howard was the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England from 1995-97, after three years as the Director General of the Confederation of British Industry. Earlier in his career he worked in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including two years as Private Secretary to the British Ambassador in Paris, the Treasury, McKinsey and Co, and as Controller of the Audit Commission.


Howard has been a Professor in Practice at the French School of Political Science in Paris (Sciences Po) since 2011. He teaches courses in financial regulation, and central banking, to masters students.


He is a member of the Regulatory and Compliance Advisory Board of Millennium Management LLC, a New York-based hedge fund. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration and in 2012, was appointed Chairman of the International Advisory Council of the China Securities Regulatory Commission. In January 2026 he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Qivalis NV, a stablecoin issuer.


Howard chaired the Risk Committee at Prudential plc from 2010 to 2020. He was an independent Director of Morgan Stanley Inc. in New York for 11 years, from 2004 to 2015, and earlier in his career was a Non-Executive Director of GKN plc from 1989-95, and Paternoster Ltd from 2005 to 2010.


He was a Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 2002-2010 and Chair from 2009-10. He was a director of the Royal National Theatre from 2011 to 2015, when he left to chair the London Library. He chaired the Library until the end of 2023. He chaired the judges of the Man Booker Prize in 2007.


Howard has published five books focused on the financial markets and regularly writes for The Financial Times, Prospect, The Literary Review, Project Syndicate and Management Today.


He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, Merton College, Oxford and Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Harkness Fellow.