Richard Banks (banker)

Richard Lee Banks
Born	Stockport, England
Occupation	Banker
Years active	1984–present
Known for	Chief Executive Officer of UK Asset Resolution

Richard Lee Banks CBE is a prominent British banker who serves as the Chief Executive Officer of UK Asset Resolution, the government-owned "bad bank" established from the remnants of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley following their collapse in 2008. By 2014, he had successfully diminished UK Asset Resolution’s asset base by 40% and repaid £4 billion to the UK government, earning acclaim as one of the leading bankers in Britain.

Banking career

Hailing from Stockport, Banks completed a BA in Business Studies at Manchester Polytechnic and qualified as an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. His early career (1984–1987) was with Midland Bank, where he progressed to the position of Corporate Finance Executive. In 1987, he was appointed General Manager of Girobank, a state-owned financial institution operating through the Post Office network. After Girobank was acquired by Alliance & Leicester in 1990, Banks took on roles as Director of Corporate Banking until 1996 and then managing director until 2000. Additionally, he held a directorship at VISA UK between 1992 and 1994.

From 2000 to 2002, Banks acted as Distribution Director at Alliance & Leicester Retail Bank before returning to lead Girobank, which had been rebranded as Alliance & Leicester Corporate Bank, a position he held until 2008. Following the acquisition of Alliance & Leicester by Santander UK in 2008, he briefly assumed the role of Group Risk Director.

In 2009, Banks served as a non-executive director at Chelsea Building Society, resigning before the revelation of £41 million in potentially fraudulent loans that precipitated its takeover by Yorkshire Building Society. Subsequently, he was a non-executive director at ICICI Bank UK from 2009 through 2014.

Since 2005, Banks has contributed as a director to Liverpool Compact, an "Education Business Partnership" organisation that provides work experience opportunities for young people. He has also been an independent non-executive director at Aldermore since September 2020.

UK Asset Resolution

Banks was appointed Chief Executive of Bradford & Bingley in April 2009 following its nationalisation; this occurred after its retail savings accounts and branch network were sold to Santander UK and its mortgage book was closed to new customers. When Bradford & Bingley merged with Northern Rock in October 2010, Banks became Chief Executive of the merged entity, UK Asset Resolution.

In 2013, Banks was among the highest-earning public sector officials with a salary of £815,000—approximately four times that of the Prime Minister—following a 27% increase in pay. By November 2014, under his stewardship, UK Asset Resolution had repaid £4 billion out of an initial £16 billion government loan, reduced assets from £110 billion down to £66 billion, and cut mortgage arrears to 6%. This achievement led the Evening Standard to speculate whether he might be "Britain's best banker."

For his contributions to taxpayers, Banks received the honour of being appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours.