Experienced bankers are being sought by the Treasury to oversee the £585bn ($943bn) of troubled bank debt that the government has agreed to insure as part of its scheme to bail out Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The Treasury has appointed headhunters to find a chief executive for the newly formed Asset Protection Agency, which will monitor the banks’ handling of their insured assets and attempt to minimise losses for the taxpayer. It is seeking a banker with “significant experience” of asset-backed securities for the job, which will pay £140,000 a year – significantly less than the amount a senior investment banker would be expected to earn.