Hector Sants is a British investment banker. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Authority in July 2007.
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Sants was educated at Clifton College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford and obtained an MA in Psychology and Philosophy.
He joined the Research Department of Phillips & Drew in 1977, and from 1978 to 1983 he was the Senior Analyst responsible for Food Manufacturing and Overseas Traders sectors. In this capacity he achieved considerable success, regularly featuring in institutional client surveys and becoming a partner in 1984.
In December 1984 he moved to New York where he was a Director of Phillips & Drew International, the New York subsidiary. In 1985 he became Managing Director of that operation. Phillips & Drew International was subsequently acquired by Union Bank of Switzerland and Sants was appointed First Vice President, responsible for the international securities activities of UBS Securities.
In January 1988, he returned to London where he became responsible for the worldwide co-ordination of research for the UBS investment banking operation. In September 1988, he became Vice Chairman of UBS Phillips & Drew Securities Ltd, renamed UBS Limited in 1993, initially responsible for all equity and equity-linked secondary activities in London and later, from 1996, responsible for all equity business in Europe, Africa and the Middle Near East. In 1994, with the formation of the Global Equity Management Committee of which Sants was a founding member, he also took collective responsibility for UBS's worldwide equity operations. In December 1997 he became Global Head of Equities but continued to retain direct responsibility for the European product. From 1998 he was also on the Executive Management Committee for all UBS wholesale activities in Europe.
In March 1998, as a result of the merger with Swiss Bank Corporation he became Joint Head of European Equities at Warburg Dillon Read.
Sants left in July 1998 to join Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. At DLJ he was Global Head of International (non-US) Equities and Chairman of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette International Securities Ltd.
In October 2000 DLJ merged with Credit Suisse First Boston and Sants became a Vice Chairman with responsibility for the equity businesses outside of the USA. In November 2001 he became Chief Executive officer for the European, Middle East and Africa region and joined the Executive Board and the Operating Committee of Credit Suisse First Boston.
In May 2004 Sants joined the Financial Services Authority as the Managing Director responsible for Wholesale and Institutional Markets.[1] He was appointed FSA Chief Executive in July 2007.[2]
In December 2008, Sants appeared before a Treasury Select Committee inquiry about the FSA. Committee Chairman John McFall commented “Your long answers are not helping us”. At the end of the hearing, however, he added “you did very well”.[3]
Concurrently with his main career, Sants has held non-executive directorships at organisations including the Securities and Futures Authority (no longer extant as such), the London Stock Exchange and LCH.Clearnet. He has also served on the Practitioners Panel of the FSA, the Securities and Investments Board, the initial committee to start up CREST, the Financial Law Panel, the Practitioner Investment Advisory Committee to the Public Trustee Office and the LIBA Chairman's Committee.