• Chancellor Rishi Sunak appoints John Flint as first permanent Chief Executive of the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB).
• He will lead the organisation to support regional growth and tackle climate change.
• The UKIB opened in June to accelerate investment in ambitious infrastructure projects in sectors including clean energy, transport, digital, water and waste.

The Chancellor Rishi Sunak has put John Flint, former CEO of HSBC, at the helm. He will be tasked with leading the UKIB to accelerate investment into ambitious infrastructure projects that cut emissions and help level up every part of the UK.

Born in Yorkshire, Mr Flint is committed to UKIB’s levelling up agenda, and will be based at the institution’s headquarters in Leeds. He most recently held the role of Group Chief Executive of HSBC, a company where he spent 30 years. He first joined as a graduate trainee in 1989 before holding various senior leadership positions across the business including as Chief Executive of Global Asset Management, Group Treasurer and Deputy Head of Global Markets.

First announced by the Chancellor alongside the Spending Review, the UKIB will help finance important projects in every region and nation of the UK in sectors including clean energy, transport, digital, water and waste.

The UKIB will receive an initial £12 billion of capital and will be able to issue a further £10 billion of government guarantees, helping to unlock more than £40 billion of investment overall.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

I am delighted to appoint John Flint as the first permanent CEO of the UK Infrastructure Bank. This is an important milestone for the Bank in its efforts to tackle climate change and level up, while creating new opportunities across the UK as part of our Plan for Jobs . Mr Flint brings outstanding financial and management expertise which will be crucial to leading the organisation as it grows its operations and starts to deliver on its mission to finance projects in every region of the UK.

Chris Grigg CBE, Chair of UKIB, said:

The CEO will play a pivotal role in shaping the organisation’s culture, taking charge of UKIB’s development and performance, and leading its talented workforce. John Flint has an outstanding track record and deep experience within both finance and senior leadership positions; I look forward to working with him closely in his new position.

I would also like to offer my personal thanks to John Mahon, who has served as interim CEO with considerable skill, for his many contributions to the Bank – steering UKIB through a crucial development period.

John Flint said:

I am honoured to be appointed the first permanent CEO of the UK Infrastructure Bank.

This is a unique leadership opportunity. The UK Infrastructure Bank’s purpose is clear, and the opportunity to play a role in accelerating the UK’s transition to a low carbon economy, and catalysing regional economic growth is exciting.

I look forward to getting started on the new adventure, meeting my new colleagues, and building an outstanding team.

Mr Flint was appointed following a fair and open competition and will lead the executive functions of UKIB and, as CEO, sit on the institution’s board. He will formally begin his role on 27 September.

Notes to editors

• UKIB has been operational in interim form since June 2021 and is the new, government-owned policy bank, focused on increasing infrastructure investment across the United Kingdom. The UKIB is partnering with the private sector and local government to finance a green industrial revolution and to support regional and local economic growth across the country.
• John Flint was selected following a fair and open competition, after the role was advertised on the Cabinet Office Public Appointments website for one month, concluding 7 July 2021.
• Russell Reynolds Associates were retained to aid in the search for the Chief Executive position.
• This appointment was made on merit and political activity played no part in the decision process. In accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments published by the Cabinet Office, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity to be made public. Mr Flint did not declare any political activity.
• The CEO role is a full-time position and will be based in Leeds.
• John Mahon will finish in his role as interim CEO on 17 September 2021.
• The Bank’s £22 billion of financial capacity consists of £5 billion of equity, £7 billion of debt, and £10 billion of guarantees.
• The website for the UK Infrastructure Bank can be found here.

About the Appointment Process:

John Flint was selected following a fair and open competition. An advisory assessment panel chaired by Chris Grigg CBE (Chair, UK Infrastructure Bank) and also consisting of Charles Roxburgh (Second Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury) and Dame Melanie Dawes (Chief Executive, Ofcom) interviewed a number of candidates and made recommendations to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Chancellor, which informed the selection decision.

The Treasury is committed to appointing a diverse range of people to public appointments and works to attract the broadest range of suitable applicants for posts. There were 19 applications for the position, of which six candidates were shortlisted for interview. The gender breakdown for this appointment is below.

Thank you Mister Moderator. We would like to thank the Swedish Chairpersonship for organising this Special Session on the Structured Dialogue. And though he has now left the OSCE, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Spanish Chair of the Informal Working Group, Ambassador Cuesta for his able stewardship of the Structured Dialogue and his excellent team for all their efforts in organising the Expert level Workshop and Informal Working Group meetings so far this year.

The UK continues to value the Structured Dialogue which we see as having two primary purposes. First, as an additional, informal forum for participating States to have meaningful conversations about the current and future challenges and risks to security in the OSCE area. Second, to explore opportunities for increasing reciprocal transparency and reducing risks in these times of heightened tension and increased threats to our security.

We have seen again this year that new strategic threats, including the suite of actions by state and non-state actors below the threshold of armed conflict, remains a priority current and future security challenge for a great many participating States. Unfortunately, we have again seen that one participating State refuses to acknowledge this or to engage on the serious concerns raised. It was also disappointing that the same participating State chose not to engage in discussions on climate change and security, an important subject where we believe the OSCE could have the potential to add value for the benefit of us all.

Under such circumstances, it will be difficult to fulfil the Hamburg mandate of fostering greater understanding to serve as a common solid basis for a way forward. And we risk losing the chance to improve our collective security by further developing the proposals made by a number of participating States in both the Climate Change and Security, and New Strategic Threats sessions, proposals which we believe merit serious consideration.

Turning now to the transparency, risk reduction and incident prevention component of the Structured Dialogue. We have said many times that we are open to the idea of collecting best practices on TRRIP, and exploring additional voluntary transparency where this is reciprocated and as a complement to existing mandatory measures. The Expert Level Workshop discussion on Preventing Incidents at Sea appeared to show good support for considering further work on best practices in the maritime domain too.

I want to finish by highlighting some very clear messages that we again heard from many participating States during Structured Dialogue meetings this year. First, restoring full respect for the fundamental OSCE principles enshrined in the Helsinki Final Act and Paris Charter, including respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, and the non-use or threat of force is essential. Second, all participating States need to fully and faithfully implement their existing politico-military commitments. Third, we urgently need to modernise the Vienna Document as the first and most obvious task in progressing the TRRIP agenda. Fourth, no agreement, however good on paper, can address deliberately provocative or aggressive activities. And fifth, participating States continue to be concerned about the risks to their security posed by below threshold activities, in addition to the more traditional security challenges that our existing instruments were designed to address.

Mr. Moderator, we look forward to the October meeting of the Structured Dialogue. You may be assured of the continued support of the UK Delegation, and our continued constructive engagement.

Monthly counts of Klebsiella species (Klebsiella spp.) bacteraemia by organisation and location of onset (from April 2019).

Monthly counts of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia by organisation and location of onset (from April 2019).