By Tash Shifrin
28 July 2009
Former Audit Commission chair Sir David Cooksey has been appointed to chair UK Financial Investments, the body that manages the taxpayers’ stake in the nationalised banks.
Cooksey’s appointment, to replace acting chair Glen Moreno, will begin a shake-up of the UKFI. Chief executive John Kingman has announced that he will stand down ‘in due course’ to pursue other interests. Kingman was formerly second permanent secretary at the Treasury.
The UKFI is also set to move out of the Treasury’s Whitehall headquarters, where it has been based since its establishment in November last year, to its own offices.
Cooksey is currently chair of London & Continental Railways and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation. His career includes establishing Advent Venture Partners, one of the first venture capital firms in the UK, in 1981.
He has been a director of the Bank of England and governor of the Wellcome Trust as well as chair of the Audit Commission.
Chancellor Alistair Darling said: ‘As one of Britain’s leading businessmen, Sir David combines hands-on financial expertise with a thorough understanding of the needs of businesses throughout the country.’
Cooksey said he would be ‘focused on protecting the value of those investments and disposing of them over time’.
28 July 2009
Former Audit Commission chair Sir David Cooksey has been appointed to chair UK Financial Investments, the body that manages the taxpayers’ stake in the nationalised banks.
Cooksey’s appointment, to replace acting chair Glen Moreno, will begin a shake-up of the UKFI. Chief executive John Kingman has announced that he will stand down ‘in due course’ to pursue other interests. Kingman was formerly second permanent secretary at the Treasury.
The UKFI is also set to move out of the Treasury’s Whitehall headquarters, where it has been based since its establishment in November last year, to its own offices.
Cooksey is currently chair of London & Continental Railways and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation. His career includes establishing Advent Venture Partners, one of the first venture capital firms in the UK, in 1981.
He has been a director of the Bank of England and governor of the Wellcome Trust as well as chair of the Audit Commission.
Chancellor Alistair Darling said: ‘As one of Britain’s leading businessmen, Sir David combines hands-on financial expertise with a thorough understanding of the needs of businesses throughout the country.’
Cooksey said he would be ‘focused on protecting the value of those investments and disposing of them over time’.