For a man who wanted to escape the grind of form-filling and general pen-pushing, Naguib Kheraj seems to have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. The former finance director of Barclays, who left in October 2006 in part because he was tired of the tedium of Basel II, Sarbanes-Oxley and the numerous other regulations that govern the corporate day, has joined the financial regulator as a senior adviser.

Mr Kheraj will run the supervisory enhancement programme set up by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to beef up its regulation of banks in the wake of the Northern Rock debacle. Hector Sants, chief executive of the FSA, believes that the regulator has hit the jackpot with the appointment, describing Mr Kheraj's input as “invaluable”.

The rest of the financial sector is likely to agree. Mr Kheraj's leaving do from Barclays, held at Spencer House in St James's last April, was attended by the City's finest. Almost immediately after departing the bank, Mr Kheraj was lured back to oversee Barclays's ferocious bid battle with Royal Bank of Scotland for ABN Amro. Although Barclays did not win the fight, Mr Kheraj did work on two significant investments in the bank by Temasek, the Singaporean wealth fund, and China Development Bank.

Mr Kheraj cut his teeth as an investment banker with Salomon Brothers and worked at Robert Fleming, where he was co-head of global capital markets, before joining Barclays.

He had planned to work in corporate finance or private equity - two sectors that have since experienced a significant slowdown after he left Barclays.

Nevertheless, the FSA job is a part-time one and it would come as no surprise if Mr Kheraj was snapped up by another company for a high-profile role.

Widely regarded as a highly intelligent individual, he also has a combative side. One former colleague remembers: “When he's annoyed he goes quiet. And the quieter he gets, the scarier it is.”

Mr Kheraj uses his financial knowhow for the benefit of the Wellcome Trust, where he is a member of the investment committee, and is on the executive committee of Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. He is also a governor of the Institute of Ismaili Studies, which promotes Islamic scholarship, and is the chairman of the Aga Khan Foundation's UK branch.

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