Ex-FSA chief Sants in talks with Barclays over compliance role

LONDON Dec 6 (Reuters) - The former boss of Britain's financial regulator is in talks with Barclays Plc to take on a role overseeing the UK bank's compliance and regulatory functions, a person familiar with the matter said.

Hector Sants stepped down as chief executive of the Financial Services Authority in June and has also held talks with accountant Deloitte, as a welter of new financial industry rules has put expertise in regulation at a premium.

Barclays has come under fire this year for its standards. If Sants takes the role he would sit on its executive committee, one rung below the bank's boardroom, and report to Chief Executive Antony Jenkins, Sky News reported.

Barclays declined to comment. Sants could not immediately be reached.

The FSA is being scrapped in April as part of a shake-up of supervision that will make the Bank of England the main banking supervisor, and which has triggered a string of top level departures from the FSA to the private sector.

Sants was paid 836,000 pounds ($1.35 million) for the 2011/12 financial year.