Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO)’s banking division is lining up John Kingman, a former Treasury official who handled bailout negotiations during the financial crisis, as its new chairman.
Kingman is best known for overseeing the British government’s banking bailout during the 2008 financial crisis as second permanent secretary to the Treasury and his appointment as a non-executive director is effective next month.
A source said that Kingman will replace current chairman Graham Pimlott in a few months’ time and following regulatory approval, which is expected to be given without difficulty.
At present, Kingman is chairman of FTSE 100 financial services company Legal & General and though mooted as a possible next governor of the Bank of England, he has maintained that he does not want the role.
In May, Tesco Bank blamed “challenging market conditions” for its exit from mortgages when it agreed the £3.8bn sale of its mortgage portfolio to competitor Lloyds.
Tesco also surprised the City last week when it announced that chief executive Dave Lewis, nicknamed “Drastic Dave” for his cost-cutting and rebuilding of the supermarket chain during his five years at its helm, will step down in the summer of 2020.
During the financial crisis, Kingman handled the resolution of Northern Rock’s collapse and led the negotiations with RBS and Lloyds/HBOS over their government rescue packages.
Shares in Tesco were little moved, trading at 235.9p on Monday morning.