Eric Daniels, the chief executive of Lloyds TSB, was happy to play up to his City soubriquet of “the quiet American” yesterday. While most of his rivals have had to resort to wailing and gnashing of teeth in explaining away their huge sub-prime writedowns, Mr Daniels was able to report a rock-solid set of full-year results.

“We've stayed away from the racy end of the market,” he explained in his typically measured fashion.

Given the criticism he has had to put up with since taking the reins in 2003, he could have been forgiven for being a little more self- congratulatory. Until the onset of the sub-prime crisis, the 56-year-old had been lambasted for eschewing acquisitions and allowing Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS to leap ahead on the global banking stage.

Instead, the chain-smoking American focused on banking fundamentals such as current accounts and lending. It may no longer be the biggest bank, but - as yesterday's results testify - its quest to be the best is paying dividends.

That does not mean acquisitions are off the agenda. Indeed, if his rescue proposal for Northern Rock last summer had been accepted by the Government, Alistair Darling could have avoided the crisis that has put a huge question mark over his tenure as Chancellor.

Mr Daniels, the son of a German university professor and a Chinese mother, entered banking in 1975, joining Citibank after a taking a degree in history at Cornell University and a masters in management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He spent the first 13 of his 25 years at Citibank moving around its South American operations, rising to become head of its Argentinian business. In 1988 he moved to its private banking unit in London before returning to America in 1992.

He went on to assume several senior roles, running Citibank's European consumer banking business out of Brussels. Then, in 1998, after the bank's merger with Travelers group, he was appointed as chairman and chief executive of Travelers Life and Annuity.

In 2000 he quit to run a Latin American dot-com business selling financial advice before returning to banking as head of UK retail banking at Lloyds TSB. Within 18 months he had succeeded Peter Ellwood as group chief executive.

Mr Daniels, who is married with one son, lists his interests as fly-fishing, opera, shopping for antiques and reading detective novels - an image that seems at odds with his background growing up in the Wild West of Montana.

But shareholders of Lloyds TSB will doubtless be relieved that the man holding the reins of the Black Horse has eschewed the cowboy practices of some rival bankers.

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