Northern Rock Buyer Lures‎ Ex-Santander Chief

One of the world's most prolific buyers of financial assets is recruiting a former Santander UK executive, underlining its intention to continue its multibillion pound European spending spree.

Sky News has learnt that Stephen Jones, who resigned as Santander UK's chief financial officer a year ago, will join Cerberus Capital Management as a senior adviser next month.

Based in London, Mr Jones will be responsible for identifying and pursuing acquisitions in the UK and elsewhere in Europe as the continent's financial sector faces significant tremors caused by Britain's impending exit from the EU.

Italy's banking system is likely to need extensive capital injections from outside investors, while billions of euros are set to be injected into Greek non-performing loans.

Cerberus has also been scouring the UK for deals, and has recently been examining a bid for MBNA, the credit card giant, which could delay a sale following the EU referendum result.

Mr Jones, who also worked at Barc‎lays, is a respected figure in the City who has been approached by banks and other financial institutions since leaving Santander UK. 

He was recruited to help steer it through an initial public offering but decided to leave when it emerged that the Spanish-owned lender had ruled out a public market listing in the near term.

He was asked to become chief executive of the troubled Co-operative Bank earlier this year but decided against taking the role.

At Cerberus, he will be involved with a portfolio which was ‎bolstered last year by the £13bn acquisition of mortgages issued by Northern Rock before its taxpayer bailout nearly a decade ago.

That deal was hailed by George Osborne, the Chancellor, as the largest-ever financial asset sale by a European government, with £3.3bn of the mortgage loans subsequently sold to TSB.

The transaction was not without controversy, however, with MPs questioning whether it had delivered value for British taxpayers.

Another deal undertaken by Cerberus in Northern Ireland also attracted scrutiny ‎from US authorities over alleged irregular payments relating to an auction by Ireland's state-controlled 'bad loans' agency.

New York-based Cerberus‎ declined to comment on Mr Jones' appointment.