John Kingman

John Kingman was appointed as Chairman of Legal & General Group plc from October 24, 2016. John is also Chairman of Tesco Bank and non-executive Chair of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which oversees the strategic direction of science and innovation funding in the UK, with a budget of over £8bn a year.

John has had a long Whitehall career; as Second Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury, he had responsibility for the Treasury’s economics ministry functions for policy relating to business, financial services and infrastructure. He was closely involved in the UK response to the financial crisis, handling the resolution of Northern Rock and leading negotiations with RBS, Lloyds and HBOS on their £37bn recapitalisation. He was the first Chief Executive of UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI). From 2010-12, John was Global Co-Head of the Financial Institutions Group at Rothschild.

John is Deputy Chair of the National Gallery, a Trustee of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, a member of the Trilateral Commission and a World Fellow of Yale University. He chaired the judges for the 2017 Wolfson Economics Prize, a £250,000 prize awarded for the best solution to a public policy problem. In 2018 he undertook an independent review for the UK Government of the Financial Reporting Council. In 2021, John was awarded Fellow of the Royal Society.