James Meyer Sassoon, Baron Sassoon, Kt, FCA[1] (b. 11 September 1955) is the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, a ministerial position in HM Treasury, the UK's finance ministry. Sassoon had a long career in the financial sector and previously served in various roles at the Treasury from 2002 to 2008, at which point he began advising David Cameron on financial issues.[2] He was appointed to the House of Lords in connection with his ministerial appointment.[3]
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Sassoon began a career in finance at Thomson McLintock & Company in 1977, before joining S.G. Warburg & Co. (later UBS Warburg) in 1985. He became a director in 1995, leading the firm's privatisation business, and serving as Vice Chairman, Investment Banking from 2000 to 2002.
Sassoon has also served as a director of the following organisations: Partnerships UK, 2002–06; Merchants Trust, 2006–10 (chairman 2010); the ifs School of Finance, 2009–10 (chairman) and the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, 2008–2010. He was a trustee of the National Gallery Trust, 2002–09 and of the British Museum, 2009–10.
In 2002, he joined HM Treasury, becoming Managing Director of Finance, Regulation and Industry, a position he served in until 2006. Sassoon then became the Chancellor's Representative for Promotion of the City. In 2007, he was named President of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering. He continued in both roles until 2008. At that time, he began advising David Cameron, then the Leader of the Opposition, and George Osborne, then the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and became a member of the Shadow Cabinet's Economic Recovery Committee. In 2009, he wrote The Tripartite Review, a review of the adequacy of the UK's three financial regulators (the Financial Services Authority, HM Treasury, and the Bank of England), especially as regards financial stability.[4]
In May 2010, he was named Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, a minister whose portfolio includes financial services and business matters. In consequence, it was announced he would be made a life peer, and he was introduced in the House of Lords on 3 June 2010 as Baron Sassoon, of Ashley Park in the County of Surrey.[5][6]
A member of the Sassoon family, Sassoon is the son of Hugh Meyer Sassoon (first cousin of Siegfried Sassoon) and Marion (née Schiff). He married Sarah Barnes in 1981 and has a son and two daughters.
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