New bank player recruits Rock head

Gary Hoffman, who has been steering Northern Rock towards recovery, will leave with immediate effect and join NBNK as chief executive in May.

This is the second major banking boardroom change this week after Lloyds hired the head of Santander UK.

Analysts said the hire was a good move for NBNK, which has been set up to buy UK banking assets as the finance industry restructures following the crisis.

Hoffman, aged 50, made his name at Barclays, which he joined in 1982 after leaving Cambridge University. He rose through the ranks to head the company's Barclaycard credit card division, before being named chief executive of Northern Rock in July 2008.

He was not at the lender during its financial troubles in late 2007, which saw the government step in to prevent a run on the bank. It nationalised Northern Rock in February 2008.

NBNK Investments was set up by former Lloyd's of London insurance chairman Peter Levene earlier this year and raised 50m through a stock market flotation.

The cash is intended to finance the purchase of UK banking assets, with banks such as part-nationalised Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland in the process of major disposal programmes.

"I'm convinced that we will be well positioned to develop our business and offer a compelling new proposition," Mr Hoffman said.