The move would be a controversial one, seeing as Bradford & Bingley collapsed and was eventually bailed out by the government in 2008 while Sir Ian was a member of its audit, remuneration and risk and compliance committees.
Barclays wants to bring in ex-Bradford & Bingley director Sir Ian Cheshire as chairman of its UK subsidary according to media reports.
The move would be a controversial one, seeing as Bradford & Bingley collapsed and was eventually bailed out by the government in 2008 while Sir Ian was a member of its audit, remuneration and risk and compliance committees.
Sir Ian, who is chairman of Debenhams and was chief executive of B&Q owner Kingfisher until 2014, is set to be appointed as Barclays splits up its retail and investment services in a ‘ringfencing’ initiative from the Bank of England.
Reports say Barclays has sought the approval of the Prudential Regulation Authority to hire Sir Ian and the announcement could be made as early as January.
The part of the bank that will be ring-fenced is Barclays UK, comprising the retail business, smaller corporate and the UK cards and wealth businesses.
Barclays has already split its operations so Barclays UK effectively acts as a separate entity, but next year it will acquire a banking licence and is set to be officially ring fenced by Easter 2018.
