Rock FD survives board clear out

Finance chief David Jones manages to keep his job despite clear out of the board by Northern Rock chairman

Written by Nicholas Neveling

Accountancy Age, 19 Nov 2007

Northern Rock finance director David Jones is one of the few executives at the beleaguered bank to have survived a board clear out by chairman Bryan Sanderson.

Last week Sanderson announced that chief executive Adam Applegarth had resigned and that fellow executive directors David Baker, Keith Currie and Andy Kuipers would also be leaving the company.

Jones, however, will stay on as finance director.

Sanderson also announced that former Safeway CFO Simon Laffin would join the company as a non-executive director along with National Air Traffic Services chairman John Devaney.

He said Sir Derek Wanless, Nichola Pease, Adam Fenwick and Rosmary Radcliffe would all be stepping down as non-execs.

The board shake-up follows the cash bail out of Northern Rock by the Bank of England. The government has now contributed about £20bn as part of a rescue package granted to help get the bank through the credit crunch.