AN OFFICIAL consultation document on the way banks and other financial institutions are run will this week call for a shake-up of boards and for risk management to be given an enhanced role.

Sir David Walker’s preliminary views on corporate governance, ordered by Alistair Darling, the chancellor, will be published on Thursday. It is expected to signal the end of the “cult of the amateur” in the boardrooms of banks.

Walker is expected to recommend that a greater proportion of non-executive directors on bank boards have direct experience of the sector and are required to spend more time on the role. Many of the current crop of non-executives combine their posiotion with a series of other important board roles.

Even chairmen of some leading UK banks had limited banking experience ahead of the crisis. Walker’s consultation will also cover remuneration and risk management. However, his suitability was questioned by the Commons Treasury committee, which described him as a “City grandee” too close to the banks.

Keith Boyfield, chairman of the Adam Smith Institute’s Regulatory Evaluation Group, said there was a case for a return to old-style structures for investment banks.

“One advantage of partnership arrangements was that it was their own money they were risking and they had a stake in the long-term profitability of the business,” he said.

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