Sir Derek Wanless (29 September 1947 – 22 May 2012) was an English banker and an adviser to the Labour Party.

Biography

Derek Wanless was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he was educated at the Royal Grammar School. From 1967 to 1970, he was an undergraduate, studying mathematics at King's College, Cambridge, which he attended on a support grant from Westminster Bank, g raduating as Senior Wrangler in 1970. He subsequently moved into banking, qualifying as a statistician and attending the Program for Management Development at Harvard. He was a member of the Institute of Statisticians and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, of which he was president of in 1999. He had joined Westminster Bank, a constituent of the present National Westminster Bank in 1967, beginning with a Saturday job, before becoming NatWest's director of personal banking from 1986 to 1988. He then became the general manager for UK Branch Business and UK Financial Services and in 1992 took on the role of group chief executive 1999, when he received a reported pay-off of £3,000,000. On Friday 8 October 1999, BBC News reported that Derek Wanless had been ousted from his position as chief executive. Wanless was reportedly forced out by the bank's non-executive directors, who replaced him with Sir David Rowland. Wanless had been criticized by City investors for taking the bank into investment banking and failing to curtail high costs. As executive responsible for NatWest's card business, he led the team which invented Switch, the UK's debit card scheme. He led the NatWest Group immediately prior to its takeover, by the (then) relatively small Royal Bank of Scotland. In 2002, he carried out a review of the future funding of the National Health Service for Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and in 2007 carried out a further review for the King's Fund. He was a non-executive director of Northern Rock between 2000-2007, where he was chairman of The Northern Rock's Audit and Risk committees. His position became highly contentious following the incipient collapse of Northern Rock in September 2007. The Northern Rock's crisis was due to inadequate risk provision, and a 'run on the Bank' was only halted with promises of unlimited UK government support. Sir Derek was heavily criticized regarding his role in the Northern Rock affair by a committee of MPs sitting on the Commons Treasury Select Committee on 16 October 2007. Sir Derek's resignation was accepted by Northern Rock's newly appointed chairman on 17 November 2007. He died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 64 in 2012.

Affiliations

Sir Derek Wanless was a Freeman of the City of London, received a Knighthood in the 2005 New Year Honours and a Doctor of Civil Law, honoris causa from Durham University on 30 June 2005. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration (Hon DBA) from Sunderland University in July 2007. A further Honorary Doctorate was awarded by Coventry University in November 2007, which prompted a Daily Telegraph article questioning the value of such awards The House of Commons Select Treasury Committee published its report into the Northern Rock affair on 24 January 2008. Wanless's role as chairman of the Risk Committee, was criticized in the report. The report's conclusion is appended below, and the full report may be found as referenced.

Key publications