Chief executive has “no plans to return to banking” full time
British Land chief executive Stephen Hester has insisted that his new role at stricken bank Northern Rock will not distract him from his day job.
Hester also rejected claims that his first non-executive directorship was a signal that he eventually planned a full-time return to the City.
“I have absolutely no plans to return to the banking market,” said Hester.
“My job at Northern Rock is a non-executive role and, therefore, I will be giving it the appropriate amount of time a non-executive gives to a company.”
“I don’t believe there is a FTSE 100 chief executive without at least one non-exec role. In fact, I think my shareholders should be concerned if I was the sort of chief executive that did not get offered such roles.”
Hester was asked by chancellor Alistair Darling last weekend to join the board of Northern Rock as deputy chairman of the newly nationalised bank.
“It is important for the country that Northern Rock be sorted out, and I am delighted to have a chance to influence that, even in a non-exec role.”
“But I have no confusion between the role of an executive and non-executive on my board or any company’s board.”
Hester said he believed the government chose him for the role partly because of his previous role as chief finance officer at Abbey National, where his team was instrumental in turning the bank’s fortunes around.
He said that he had not yet negotiated a salary with the bank, but only that it would be one appropriate to the part-time nature of the job.
“If I was taking on a role that was going to take a lot of time away from British Land, you might think I would have focused on salary – but I am not. Whatever it is, it’s a side issue, because my main job is British Land.”
