EDINBURGH on a damp January morning is no place to be walking the streets, and the office of Noble Grossart provides a cosy refuge. Inside, in a drawing room decorated with fine art and antique china, Sir Angus Grossart is holding court.

Sir Angus, 67, is often portrayed as an aloof figure, the doyen of Edinburgh’s financial community, a man who does not suffer fools gladly. But the man who proffers his hand could not be farther from the image. Polite and soft-spoken, Sir Angus comes across as more kindly uncle than disdainful tyrant. He is a big man, physically, and in presence, but puts one at ease without trying to be over-familiar.

Sir Angus is one of Scotland’s foremost movers and shakers, with several key directorships and a hand in 50 business ventures. One of his most high-profile roles has been the vice-chairmanship of the Royal Bank of Scotland, from which he steps down in April after 19 years amid criticism that he is too close to the management.

Without discussing RBS specifically, he notes: “Scotland is a relatively small country. It is ironic, if you know people, that the taint of cronyism is applied, and yet it is quite important that you know that the non- executives know the executives and get them to communicate.”

His critics include the National Association of Pension Funds, which has been outspoken on boardroom issues. On corporate governance generally, Sir Angus says: “Some of the criteria which have emerged, it will be interesting to see if they stand the test of time.”

Sir Angus is a non-executive director of Scottish & Newcastle and Trinity Mirror, and sits on BP’s Scottish board. He is passionate about the arts and architecture. He is a past chairman of the trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland and spends spare time restoring his weekend retreat, a 16th-century castle near St Andrews in Fife. His wife, Gay, is a talented artist.

Sir Angus was born in Lanarkshire in 1937 and grew up in a mining village. Many of his relatives were in the medical profession, but he was drawn to accountancy and the law. He studied at Glasgow University and then spent seven years practising at the Bar in Edinburgh. Friends remember him as a competitive and tenacious character who had amazing powers of concentration.

He was a crack golfer in his youth and was runner-up in the British Youth’s Golf Championship in 1957. He still plays golf, “although I need three or four games to get back to standard”. He worked hard at university, but spent all his spare time on the golf course, and still has many friends in the golfing world.

Endearingly for a man now worth a reputed £80 million, Sir Angus took a university summer job selling toffee from a market stall in Glasgow’s Barrowlands. “I got this wonderful job through the student union: ‘salesman wanted in the market at the weekend’. It was selling confectionery that was slightly defective in the cooking, either too hard or too soft. I arrived tongue-tied, and before long was shouting along with the best of them. It was a wonderful experience and people were very good to me.”

As a barrister specialising in tax and corporate matters, Sir Angus encountered a steady stream of London bankers coming to Edinburgh to advise on corporate deals. He spotted a gap in the market for a home-grown Scottish merchant bank. Using his savings, he teamed up with Iain Noble (later Sir Iain), a Scottish entrepreneur, to form Noble Grossart in 1969.

Most of those at the Bar were there for life. Sir Angus says: “I was very happy, but found it a bit cloistered. There were wider horizons outside. I had little perception of where it would take me, but I’ve always found it inadvisable to have too many finite plans.”

He cites the formation of Noble Grossart as the key event in his business life. “I had not only never worked for a merchant bank; I had never been in one. So one had to take it fairly gently. But at 30 or 31 one’s courage is based on energy and enthusiasm, and, to some extent, on what you don’t know. When you’re 14, you never think you are going to miss a 6ft putt.”

His partner sold out within two years, but the name Noble Grossart endured. “I couldn’t think of any reason other than personal vanity to change it.”

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