Letters | 17 October 2009

No Sants-culotte

Sir: I was disheartened but, in these days of sloppy journalism, hardly surprised to read Charles Moore’s snide remarks (The Spectator’s Notes, 10 October) about Hector Sants’s apparently palatial house in Oxford. I have no particular opinion as to whether, as chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, Mr Sants should be paid more, the same or less than the Prime Minister. What I do know is that prior to joining the FSA, Sants had spent many years as a very senior, successful and presumably handsomely rewarded executive at Credit Suisse. Before that he held a similar position at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, which was acquired by Credit Suisse on very generous terms in 2000, and he would also have benefited from this. It is fair to surmise therefore that the bulk of Mr Sants’s wealth derives not from his current (albeit well remunerated) employment, but from his previous career in banking.