UKFI

UK Financial Investments gets a new boss, but the conundrums stay the same. The appointment of Robin Budenberg, a seasoned UBS corporate financier, as the next chief executive of the manager of the government’s stakes in British banks, is an astute choice. In spite of his provenance, Mr Budenberg exhibits little trace of a bonus-hungry investment banker. Resolute, yes, but non-confrontational, he is steeped in the measured ways of UBS forerunner SG Warburg. Just as well. If splashing out taxpayers’ money to save banks was the easy part for the government, Mr Budenberg now has the greater challenge: to devise the most enduring and profitable way of getting it back.

City skills help, but Mr Budenberg also knows his way round Whitehall. He advised on the very bail-outs that culminated in the state owning 43 per cent of Lloyds Banking Group and 70 per cent of Royal Bank of Scotland. Before that, he helped the government sell British Energy to EDF; 22 years ago this week he advised on BP’s privatisation.