Academic on list to be head of bankers’ group

A WELL-KNOWN business school academic is in the running to take over as head of the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) lobby group to replace Angela Knight who steps down this summer after defending an industry which has come under constant fire since she took up the role five years ago.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st May 2012, 07:00 BST

Peter Hahn, who teaches finance and banking at London’s Cass Business School and is a regular at industry conferences, is the first firm candidate to emerge for the job as chief executive of the BBA.

“Yes, I’m interested,” Mr Hahn said.

He declined to comment on how advanced the recruitment process has progressed since head-hunter Egon Zehnder was appointed by the BBA to find a new CEO.

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The job remains a challenging one, with criticism of an industry growing ever fiercer even four years after the taxpayer bailouts of some of Britain’s banks, with executive pay and a series of mis-selling scandals still burning issues.

Mr Hahn, who moved into teaching after a 20-year career in banking, has been senior corporate finance officer for the United Kingdom at US bank Citigroup, and has worked in London and New York.

He is a regular commentator on banking in the media and was recently asked to give evidence to Members of Parliament about Britain’s banking industry reforms.

Mr Hahn has also advised watchdog the Financial Services Authority on issues such as corporate governance and remuneration since 2009.

Ms Knight, a former Conservative MP, acted as a spokeswoman for the industry through a “crisis of a magnitude that few if any have seen before or expected”.

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