Ian Livingston, the Scot who has been at the helm of BT Group for the past six months, turned to his finance chief yesterday to sort out the troublesome global services division.

Hanif Lalani will know better than most about the challenges he faces. In August, as the company attempted to explain narrowing margins at the division during the first quarter, he said: “What you can see is rapid expansion. With expansion of any business it costs you cash and it costs you margins.”

After being thrust into the limelight as BT's chief cost-cutter, he adopted a somewhat different tone: “I am committed to improving profitability and returns for the division while continuing to win new business.”

It is perhaps not surprising that Mr Livingston, a former BT finance director himself, should pick Mr Lalani to drive through cost savings in global services. BT's revival under Ben Verwaayen, Mr Livingston's predecessor, coincided with Mr Lalani's spell as finance director and he has a reputation in the City for introducing efficiency measures.

But the Bollywood-loving father-of-three is no staid accountant. He is known as a vivacious personality who has pioneered BT's green agenda.

Last year the telecoms giant pledged to build 120 wind turbines across Britain, which would generate up to a quarter of the country's energy by 2016.

The 46-year-old has also spoken out on Britain's immigration policy, arguing that newcomers have increased the talent pool and boosted the economy. The issue is close to his heart: Mr Lalani's family was among the thousands of Asians expelled from Uganda by

Idi Amin in 1972. He moved to Yorkshire - he remains a Leeds United supporter - and joined BT in 1983 after graduating in mathematics from Essex University.

He worked his way up through BT in management and finance roles before becoming chief executive of BT in Northern Ireland, where he was appointed OBE for services to business in the Province.

Mr Lalani was appointed director of regions for the retail division and became chief finance officer of BT Wholesale in 2002. In 2004 he succeeded Ian Livingston as finance director. His next step will hinge on how he deals with costs at the errant global services division. (Marcus Leroux)