Shock as Abbey grabs ex-CSFB man

ABBEY National has astonished City investors by appointing a long-standing investment banker from CSFB as group finance director. Stephen Hester, 41, left CSFB last September, following one of the bank's many recent restructurings. He was head of fixed income from May 2000 until his departure and previously spent five years as chief financial officer.

In the early 1990s, he headed CSFB's mergers and acquisitions department and served as co-head of European investment banking.

Hester joined CSFB straight from Oxford in 1982 but after leaving last year he told Abbey that he wanted to leave the investment banking world and work for a London-based FTSE 100 company.

Abbey chief executive Ian Harley said: 'His extensive board level experience in finance and risk within global financial services, coupled with a wholesale banking background and strong pedigree as a corporate financier, makes him a very valuable asset for us.'

At today's annual meeting, Abbey said trading was in line with expectations. The shares ended ahead 11 1/2p at 1097 1/2p.