Barclays has asked regulators to approve the appointment of Sir Ian Cheshire, the former retailing executive, to chair its separate UK subsidiary in spite of criticism of his time as a non-executive director of failed lender Bradford & Bingley.
Sir Ian’s appointment would be the second time that a director of a failed bank has been asked to chair one of the new standalone lenders created to comply with the “ringfencing” law that forces big banks to split themselves in two.
Sir Ian, who is chairman of the Debenhams store chain and was chief executive of retailer Kingfisher until 2014, is having his planned appointment reviewed by the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority.
The move follows HSBC’s appointment this year of Dame Clara Furse, the former chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, to chair its ringfenced UK business. Dame Clara’s appointment was criticised as she had been a member of the risk and capital committee of Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch bank that bought part of ABN Amro in 2007 and later had to be broken up and rescued by three Benelux governments.
The appointment of directors from collapsed lenders to some of the most senior jobs in British banking highlights the increasingly tough task that headhunters say they face in trying to find people who are both qualified and willing to join a bank’s board. Recruiters say the intense level of media and political scrutiny, combined with tough regulation and high litigation risk, is putting people off the top jobs in banking.
Sir Ian became a non-executive director of Bradford & Bingley in 2003. He was a member of its audit, remuneration and risk and compliance committees, and stepped down after it was broken up and bailed out by the government in 2008.
Barclays hopes to announce Sir Ian’s appointment early next year, provided he is approved by the PRA. The proposed appointment was first reported by Sky News. Barclays, the BoE and Sir Ian declined to comment.
