One of the most highly experienced British civil servants who will soon leave the Treasury is reportedly the frontrunner in the search for the next chairman of insurer Legal & General.
John Kingman, who is resigning as second permanent secretary of the Treasury, has been chosen by L&G’s board as the favourite candidate to replace John Stewart, The Telegraph reported.
City sources told the publication that the insurer’s leading investors and the Prudential Regulation Authority have yet to vet Kingman.
The Telegraph reported that Kingman’s experience at the Treasury, where he was on the front line during the 2008 financial crisis, is expected to boost his name.
Kingman is known for being one of the primary architects of the bank rescue packages in that year which prevented the collapse of Lloyd’s Banking Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland, according to Sky News.
The news agency also reported that Kingman has been approached about succeeding Stewart, who stepped down from the board on June 1.
If Kingman joins L&G, he would probably become a non-executive director first before getting the chairmanship post in 2017, Sky News reported.
L&G has announced that it "expects to be in a position to make an announcement on the appointment of a successor chair in the coming weeks,” the report added.
Last April, Kingman announced that he would be resigning from the Treasury in July. He made the decision after losing to Tom Scholar in the race to become the Treasury’s permanent secretary.
Kingman was recently appointed as the first chair of UK Research & Innovation, a new body created by the government to oversee the strategic direction of science and innovation funding in Great Britain.
