KPMG corporate finance chief executive Simon Collins has been appointed to the Department of Business and Enterprise's Industrial Development Advisory Board.

His is one of four new appointees announced by the department together with the promotion of Credit Suisse senior adviser Mark Seligman to be its chairman.

Current chairman Gordon Page will retire next month.

Collins has a background in investment banking, with SG Warburg and NatWest Markets, and in debt markets, particularly with large corporate loans and buy-outs. His post is unpaid.

The board, set up in 1970, advises on the provision of selective financial assistance to industry, including the Grant for Business Investment, where the grant sought exceeds £2m.