The Treasury is looking overseas to recruit Britain’s top banking supervisor, insiders say, amid fears that Whitehall is about to lose one of its top mandarins to the private sector.
A successor to Sir Nicholas Macpherson as permanent secretary to the Treasury is expected to be announced next week, ending a rivalry between two of the civil service’s most effective operators. Tom Scholar, who led the referendum talks in Brussels for the prime minister, has emerged as favourite but insiders say his appointment would prompt Sir Nicholas’s deputy, John Kingman, to quit.
There had been speculation that Mr Kingman would be parachuted into the vacant post of chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority at the Bank of England but he has chosen not to apply. Instead he will sit on the Treasury panel interviewing candidates alongside Sir Nicholas and Dame Shafik, a deputy governor at the bank.
Megan Butler, the bank’s executive director for international banks supervision, has emerged as an internal favourite for the PRA role. The Treasury is considering overseas candidates and Charles Roxburgh, director general of financial services at the Treasury, is a contender.
If Mr Scholar is named permanent secretary, Mr Kingman is expected to find a job in the City. He has already had two stints in the private sector, first as a comment writer for the Financial Times and as an adviser to BP’s chief executive, and then for Rothschild, the investment bank. Treasury sources say he would be likely to move back to corporate finance or asset management.
Advertisement
Mr Scholar, 47, and Mr Kingman, 46, have had parallel careers at the Treasury, rising to the top together and at one point becoming joint second permanent secretary under Sir Nicholas, 56, who ends a 31-year Treasury career at the end of the month.
The Treasury job is considered one of the most powerful in Whitehall. Two of the past three cabinet secretaries, Sir Gus O’Donnell and Lord Turnbull, came through the Treasury.
Interviews were this week and a recommendation will be made next week to David Cameron, who makes the decision in consultation with the chancellor.
George Osborne has a habit of surprise appointments and is keen to grab foreign talent, such as Mark Carney, the Canadian governor of the Bank of England. The Treasury and the bank declined to comment.