The recruitment of Ron Sandler as chairman of Northern Rock in the event that it is nationalised looks like one of the Treasury’s more sensible decisions of recent times. The 55-year-old led the rescue of Lloyd’s of London from the threat of collapse and is no stranger to dealing with tricky or controversial assignments.

His other main claim to fame was his damning report in 2002 into the savings industry, which led to the creation of stakeholder savings products including pensions. The report was commissioned by the Treasury and Mr Sandler is said to be close to Gordon Brown, who was then the Chancellor.

Mr Sandler graduated with a first-class degree in engineering from Cambridge University before joining Boston Consulting Group in 1976. He spent 12 years as a consultant with Boston and Booz Allen Hamilton, gaining an MBA from Stanford University, before entering the financial world as chief executive of Exco, the money broker.

After the Lloyd’s rescue he became chief operating officer of NatWest, only for the company to find itself under the bid spotlight. He left after Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) completed a takeover. Since quitting NatWest in 2000 he has maintained an impressive portfolio of nonexecutive directorships, including the chairmanship of Computacenter, Kyte Group, the derivatives trading house, Oxygen, the insurance intermediary, and Paternoster, the pensions buyout group. He is also on the board of Fortis, the Belgian-Dutch insurer and a member of the consortium led by RBS that has just taken over ABN Amro, and is likely to have been heavily involved in the bank’s participation in the £50 billion deal.

Mr Sandler, who is married with two children, lists golf, skiing, poker and music among his recreations. He is a trustee of the Royal Opera House.

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