THE Portuguese banker who heads Abbey is one of three international big hitters appointed to strengthen the back bench of the Court of the Bank of England.

Antonio Horta-Osorio, chief executive of Abbey - now owned by Santander - will be joined by Mark Tucker, who has just stepped down from the Prudential, and Harrison Young, another highly experienced banker. Young sits on the board of Australia’s Commonwealth Bank and was formerly chairman of Morgan Stanley Australia.

The court played a crucial role during last year’s financial crisis, when its members were secretly bussed into the Bank of England’s headquarters on numerous occasions to help oversee the problems at Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, two banks that have since been nationalised.

The appointments, effective tomorrow, reflect the desire within the Bank to strengthen financial talent in the court. This institution acts as a nonexecutive body helping to dispense advice to the governor of the Bank of England and his team.

The court has been slimmed down from 19 to 12 people to make it easier to manage, a plan put in place by former chairman Sir John Parker. Only three nonexecutives from the previous board have stayed on: Roger Carr, chairman of Centrica and Cadbury Schweppes; Susan Rice, chief executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland; and Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.

Those to stand down include Peter Jay, the former BBC economics editor, Arun Sarin, former chief executive of Vodafone, and Bob Wigley, former chairman of Merrill Lynch International. The court’s new chairman is Sir David Lees. Another recruit, appointed for a three-year term, is Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority.

The Bank felt it needed an injection of financial intellect to tackle its new “statutory objective to protect and enhance the stability of the financial system”. All the appointments have been put before Gordon Brown and his chancellor, Alistair Darling, but while these names have been signed off by government, there is still no sign of a new chairman for UK Financial Investments (UKFI). This is the government body set up to control its holdings in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.

Sir Win Bischoff is seen as the most likely candidate.

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