Persimmon appoint Bank of England Chief Operating Officer to their board

Persimmon confirmed that Joanna Place (Chief Operating Officer at the Bank of England for three years) will be taking a place on the Persimmon board as an independent non executive director (link).

There is some interesting stuff about Persimmon on Leaseholder Knowledge here.

Help To Buy cheat Persimmon racks up £1bn profits – and spread the plague of leasehold houses around the country

Persimmon is to make a £1 billion profit thanks to taxpayers pouring in money through Help To Buy to get young first-timers onto the property ladder. And in return, what? The company has been the main offender in spreading leasehold houses around the country, creating homes which include an investment asset for someone else. So, taxpayers have been subsidising the investments of private equity speculators in residential freeholds, who hide their beneficial ownership behind nominee directors and are often based offshore.

That was this time last year. I’m sure everything has been sorted out now.

Earlier this week David Blanchflower, a former member of the Bank’s influential monetary policy committee, called for Place to resign after a security breach that gave some speculators early access to an audio feed of market-sensitive press conferences.

It looks like the buck doesn’t stop at the top,” he said. “This needs to be fully investigated by the Treasury select committee.

All in good time.