Financial Policy Committee signs up London Stock Exchange's Dame Clara Furse

Dame Clara Furse has joined the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee. The former head of the London Stock Exchange will be alongside Richard Sharp and Martin Taylor on the influential committee, which oversees the UK's financial system.

The three new members will replace Alastair Clark, Michael Cohrs and Robert Jenkins, while Donald Kohn has been re-appointed.

The committee was set up as part of sweeping regulatory reforms to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis. It is chaired by the Bank's Governor, Sir Mervyn King, and also includes the deputy governors Paul Tucker and Charlie Bean as well as Martin Wheatley, the head of the new FinancialConduct Authority.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, said: "One of the reasons for the financial crisis was that no one felt it was their responsibility to monitor risks to the system as a whole, like excessive levels of debt. From next week we will have in the FPC a permanent body doing just that.

"The calibre and expertise of these four individuals shows we have also got the brightest and the best working on that committee."

Dame Clara became the first female chief executive of the LSE in 2001 at the age of 43.

The former investment banker managed to fend off several hostile takeover bids for the exchange during her time in charge, although critics argue that she had failed to diversity the business by the time she left in 2009.

The other new members on the FPC have backgrounds in the banking sector. Mr Sharp spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs where he held a number of senior roles including as chairman of the investment bank's European business. Mr Taylor was a member of the Independent Commission on Banking chaired by Sir John Vickers as well as former chief executive of Barclays and a former chairman of WH Smith.

The FPC will today rule how much capital Britain's banks need to raise in order to plug gaping holes in their balance sheets.

The committee warned last November that Britain's banks may need to raise as much as £50bn – a figure unlikely to please under-pressure lenders such as Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland.