Gamekeeper turning poacher: ex-FSA boss talks to Barclays

Hector Sants, the former chief of the Financial Services Authority, the City regulator that is being abolished, is reportedly in talks with Barclays about heading up the bank's compliance and regulatory functions.

This would be a strange outcome for both the former regulator and the bank. Earlier this year the FSA and a US regulator fined Barclays a record £290 million over the fixing of the Libor interest rates. 

The subsequent Parliamentary inquiry into the scandal revealed that during his period in office the FSA had a tense relationship with the bank and that the regulator had questioned the suitability of Bob Diamond before his appointment as chief executive.

Sants' skills and experience are clearly in demand. Barclays' move to hire its former nemesis pits the bank against Deloitte, the accountancy firm, which has also discussed making Sants a partner.

According to Sky News, Sants would prefer the job at Barclays but will not make a decision until his 'gardening leave' from the FSA expires at the end of the year.

Sants first announced his resignation as the head of the FSA in February 2010 but stayed at the regulator to help with the transition to the government's new regulatory regime. This will see the FSA abolished and its functions spilt between the Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, both new organisations which will come under the oversight of a beefed up Bank of England next year.