A senior government at NatWest Group heads a pack of contenders to develop into the subsequent boss of Rachel Reeves’s Nationwide Wealth Fund (NWF).
Sky Information has learnt that Oliver Holbourn, who’s stepping down as chief government of NatWest’s RBS Worldwide arm, is the present frontrunner to take the helm of the Treasury-supervised funding automobile.
Mr Holbourn isn’t any stranger to Whitehall, having beforehand run UK Monetary Investments, the entity set as much as handle British taxpayers’ stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Financial institution of Scotland.
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Each banks have since returned to full non-public sector possession.
After leaving UKFI, Mr Holbourn joined NatWest – then referred to as RBS – as its head of technique, earlier than taking up the management of its worldwide enterprise in 2022.
The chancellor has been in search of a brand new head of the Nationwide Wealth Fund since February, when the previous HSBC Holdings chief John Flint introduced that he would step down from his function operating the UK Infrastructure Financial institution – which has been absorbed into the NWF.
In March, the Treasury mentioned the fund could be given a brand new strategic steer to allow it to tackle higher-risk initiatives in clear vitality, superior manufacturing, digital applied sciences and transport.
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It claimed that the NWF would unlock greater than £70bn in non-public funding.
“My primary mission is kickstarting financial development by way of our Plan for Change to make Nice Britain a stronger, extra resilient nation and put more cash into the pockets of working folks,” Ms Reeves mentioned on the time.
“I’m decided to go additional and quicker to get our financial system rising. By directing tens of billions of kilos into the UK’s industrial strengths, we’ll ship the high-skilled, high-paid jobs of the long run in each nook of the nation.”
Different candidates are mentioned to be within the body to succeed Mr Flint if Mr Holbourn doesn’t get appointed to the function.
The Treasury didn’t reply to a request for remark, whereas NatWest declined to touch upon Mr Holbourn’s behalf.
