UK bank lobby appoints Nigel Wicks as chairman

Nigel Wicks, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher, has been appointed as the new chairman of Britain's banking lobby group, replacing Barclays Chairman Marcus Agius, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said on Wednesday.

Wicks is currently chairman of Euroclear, a role he is due to give up next year, and served as Principal Private Secretary to Thatcher in the 1980s.

Opening the BBA's annual conference, its chief executive Anthony Browne said that UK banks had much to do if they are to restore public trust in the industry, adding that there was a "clear determination from the top of the industry to do whatever it takes to win it back".

Browne also pledged to put an end to mis-selling and for banks to put customers first. He said that he would set up a banking standards board to monitor practices.

Browne said that UK banks have "changed radically" since the 2008 financial crisis, with "almost complete regime change" in banks' boardrooms.

"It has been the most complete root-and-branch reform that any sector has been through in recent years," he said.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by David Goodman)