Dennis Holt hired as Co-op Bank chairman
THE CO-OP Bank yesterday promoted Dennis Holt to become chairman of its board, after eight months as a senior non-executive at the troubled finance firm.
Holt’s appointment comes after a tumultuous 18 months in which the Co-op Bank dropped out of its bid to buy 632 Lloyds branches, discovered a major capital hole, brought in new private equity investors, and became embroiled in a drugs and sex scandal with then-chairman Paul Flowers.
While Flowers was accused of having too little banking experience – he was a Methodist minister by profession – Holt is a business veteran.
In 43 years in finance he has worked as an executive director at Lloyds, in charge of retail banking, and has been deputy chairman of the Bank of Ireland, chairman of Bank of Ireland UK, and chairman of Liverpool Victoria. He is currently chairman at Beazley.