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Anthony Latter was born just after the War in Ipswich, where his father was a solicitor. But before Tony had reached his teens, his and his sister’s childhood was cruelly interrupted by the deaths of their parents just a year apart, leaving them in the care of guardians. Tony went on to Lancing College in Sussex, after which he did VSO in Guyana before coming to Corpus to read economics.
After graduating, he joined the Bank of England which had recently decided it really should recruit a few more economists. He worked for the Bank for the next three decades though he certainly did not work at the Bank in Threadneedle Street all that time. Much of his career concerned international finance and his first overseas secondment came in the early 1970s when he spent three years at the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland.
Back in London, his social life centred on the Bank’s Sport Club where he was a member of the cross-country team. As a runner he had talent and above all incredible determination. But he came into his own in the evenings where he would often be centre stage, offering superb impressions and acute observations on the issues of the day – talents that did not lessen with the years.
In the early 1980s he embarked on his next overseas secondment, this time to the Hong Kong government. At the time, the HK dollar was under great pressure as the colony’s future was uncertain following Margaret Thatcher’s visit to Beijing. If he could be pressed to point to the most important thing he had achieved in his career, it would be his role in the design and establishment of the pegged exchange rate system that stabilised the currency and endures to this day. That peg has withstood the strains of the political handover of power and subsequent events. Even now, people there are saying how much they owe Tony for saving the HK dollar.
After returning from Hong Kong, Tony put in several more years at the Bank before his third overseas assignment: a year in Kiev as an adviser to the National Bank of Ukraine. After the fall of the Berlin wall, Bank staff worked with many of the former socialist countries to help them establish central banks and manage their own currencies. Much was achieved elsewhere but the Ukrainians were less receptive to advice. Moreover, although Kiev can look lovely in springtime with the sweet chestnuts in bloom, it can be a dismal place in winter. He was there on his own and his daughter describes him as having survived on beetroot and by learning to play the bandura.
His last position with the Bank of England was as Agent in Leeds, one of a team around the country collecting information and views from outside the London bubble to try to ensure the Bank looks beyond London in formulating policy.
But not long after he and his family had settled in Yorkshire, he was invited to join the Hong Kong Monetary Authority as Deputy Chief Executive. He was surprised that a Briton was still welcome after the handover but was assured that he would not be getting the invitation if it had not already been cleared with Beijing. So in 1999, Tony and his wife headed back to Hong Kong and were there for over six years. During the last two years, he was a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong and had books published on the currency peg and economic policy in the territory, as well as contributing a weekly column to the South China Morning Post.
Tony and Liz undertook an epic journey on the Trans-Siberian railway to return to Harrogate. There his great love was the Choral Society where he became Treasurer and then Chairman. He is credited with being the only Treasurer who made accounts sound interesting as he laced his comments with the dry sense of humour that many came to know and love. Until his declining health forced him to stop, he was an active walker, come rain, come shine across the glorious local countryside.
Tony is survived by his wife Liz, whom he married in 1980, their two daughters and three grandchildren. His generosity and humour, his ability to deliver the most outrageous statements with a straight face, and his willingness to challenge authority will be greatly missed.
Lionel Price, lifelong friend