Former ICAS President Lord Smith of Kelvin has been appointed Chairman of the new UK Green Investment Bank (UK GIB).
Currently Chair of SSE and the Weir Group, and the
organising committee of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Lord Smith is also
a director of Standard Bank Group Ltd.
He qualified as a CA in 1968, and was knighted in 1999. He served as ICAS President in 1996-97.
He was previously Vice Chairman (Deutsche Asset Management)
of Deutsche Bank AG, and Chief Executive of Morgan Grenfell Asset Management.
Sir Adrian Montague was appointed as Deputy Chair and Senior
Independent Director.
“It is a pleasure to be asked by the Business Secretary to
chair this ground-breaking institution,” Lord Smith said today.
“I look forward to working with Sir Adrian Montague and
can’t wait to get started.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable said of the appointments:
"The UK GIB is a major new innovation vital to securing investment in what
is one of the great challenges of our age, the decarbonisation of our energy
supply.
“It has found two candidates of outstanding calibre well
suited to leading the bank through its important early phase."
The newly formed Board will begin the recruitment of the
company’s other directors and senior executive team shortly; with a view to
having the UK GIB fully operational this autumn, subject to state aid approval
from the European Commission.
The UK GIB will be based in Edinburgh and London. Its
headquarters will be located in Edinburgh, with an office in London.
Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said today that the UK GIB
would play an essential part in building and investing in a greener future. The
bank is to be capitalised with £3bn.
“This is a UK institution headquartered in Edinburgh
supported by a strong team in London and the news that Lord Smith and Sir
Adrian Montague have been appointed is another step towards the bank opening
for business,” Moore said.
“They bring a wealth of experience to the roles and will
bring that to bear as we look to encourage private sector investment in key
energy projects.”