Sir Nigel Leonard Wicks (born 16 June 1940) is a British financier and former senior British civil servant. He also served as Chairman of

Euroclear Euroclear is a Belgium-based financial services company that specializes in the settlement of securities transactions, as well as the safekeeping and asset servicing of these securities. It was founded in 1968 as part of J.P. Morgan & Co. to settl ...

Career

Educated originally at Beckenham and Penge Grammar School, Wicks joined British Petroleum in 1958 at the age of 18. Whilst at BP, Wicks studied for a

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

external External may refer to: * External (mathematics), a concept in abstract algebra * Externality In economics, an externality or external cost is an indirect cost or benefit to an uninvolved third party that arises as an effect of another party' ...

MA in business administration at the Portsmouth College of Technology, now part of the University of Portsmouth. After 10 years at BP, Wicks joined

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ...

in 1968. 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. The British Embassy, Washington D.C. (alternatively in the US, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington, D.C.) is the British sovereign's diplomatic mission to the United States of America, representing the interests of the United Kingdom and B ...

as Economic Minister (and so the UK's Executive Director of the IMF and

IBRD The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) is an international financial institution, established in 1944 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, that is the lending arm of World Bank Group. The IBRD offers l ...

) from 1983–1985. In 1985, Wicks took up his position as Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, 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. After Wicks' retirement, the Treasury's International Finance command was merged into that of Macro-Economic Policy, led by

Gus O'Donnell Augustine Thomas O'Donnell, Baron O'Donnell, (born 1 October 1952) is a former British senior civil servant and economist, who between 2005 and 2011 (under three Prime Ministers) served as the Cabinet Secretary, the highest official in the Bri ...

(later The Lord O'Donnell). After retirement, Wicks moved into finance; he served as Chairman of CRESTCo for a year from 2001 until it merged with

, where he was Deputy chairman 2002–2006 and since then as chairman. Wicks also served as a non-executive director of

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

for three years from 2004, and of The Edinburgh Investment Trust since 2005. In public appointments, Wicks was appointed Chairman of the

Committee on Standards in Public Life The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code o ...

from 2001–2004, as Chair of the panel appointing the initial members of the then-new

Judicial Appointments Commission The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is an independent commission that selects candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales and for some tribunals whose jurisdiction extends to Scotland or Northern Ireland. Sy ...

in 2005, and since 2007 has been Commissioner of the Jersey Financial Services Commission. In October 2012, Wicks was appointed chairman of the

British Bankers' Association The British Bankers' Association (BBA) was a trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector. From 1 July 2017, it was merged into UK Finance. It represented members from a wide range of banking and financial services. The ass ...

Personal life

As well as his MA degree from the

, Wicks holds an MA degree from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

, and honorary LLD degrees from the Universities of Bath and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He is married with three sons. Wicks was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in Prime Minister Callaghan's Resignation Honours list in 1979, a

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

(CVO) in the

1989 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1989 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

, and a

Knight Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mili ...

(KCB) in the

1992 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1992 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countri ...

, and then promoted to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the

1999 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1999 for various Commonwealth realms were announced on 30 December 1998, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1999. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various orders, d ...

References

Positions held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wicks, Nigel Living people 1940 births Civil servants in HM Treasury British businesspeople Principal Private Secretaries to the Prime Minister Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life