User:Ianwlindsey/sandbox

IAN WALTER LINDSEY

Ian Lindsey was born in Bromley, Kent on 7th May 1946 to Walter Richard Lindsey and Chrissie Lindsey (nee Godsman). His father was a Kentish man and his mother was a Scot born in New Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire. He had an older brother, Richard and a younger sister, Margaret. Ian was part of the post war boom and was educated in state system in the Bromley area. He wanted to fly for the Royal Air Force but as he frequently lamented ‘Her Majesty declined to make one of her aircraft available to him’. At this time in 1964 his parents, civil servants, were relocated to Derbyshire as part of the Government policy to move civil servants away from London: he joined the Westminster Bank in Chesterfield. He took his bankers professional examinations completing them in 18 months becoming an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. In 1967 he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer into the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Training Branch (RAFVR(T)) for service with the Air Cadet organisation which was to become second career in parallel with banking.

Banking & Academia

In 1968 he took unpaid leave from the Westminster Bank to read Economics at the University of Nottingham. When he graduated with an Upper Second BA Honours in 1971 he joined Williams & Glyn’s Bank in the City of London. He assisted with the launch of the Access credit card in 1973 where he was responsible for card marketing. He had wanted to become a branch manager but had by-passed that stage of development. In 1975 he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Banking and Economics at Harrow College. In 1977 was seconded to the Civil Service as a Senior Principal to advise the Price Commission for its Enquiry into Bank Charges. In 1979 he was awarded a Master of Philosophy degree for research into retail bank competition. Much of the research had been undertaken while at the Price Commission. In 1978 he left academia to join TSB as Assistant General Manager, Marketing. In 1983 he was ‘head-hunted’ by Robert Fleming & Co to launch the first branchless personal bank in the UK under the Save & Prosper brand. Save & Prosper had much greater visibility among personal customers than the Fleming brand. He was appointed a main board director of Save & Prosper in 1985 and a director of Flemings shortly thereafter. He was Managing Director Retail Banking and prided himself on treating customers fairly. He could boast that in 13 years, only one customer complained to the Ombudsman Service. In 1978 he became a non-executive director of VISA International with responsibility of representing the interests of the smaller banks in the EMEA region. At both TSB and Flemings his ‘secondary’ duties included handling media relations and was not afraid of criticising bad banking practice and was often quoted for so doing. In 1996 he took early retirement from Flemings pursuing career with several non-executive directorships in banking and telecoms. He was openly critical of Gordon Brown’s decision to remove responsibility for banking regulation from the Bank of England and giving it to the Financial Services Authority. As a non-executive director of several banks but he was only once interviewed by the FSA and then by individuals who had no banking experience. He believed that the FSA was a disaster waiting to happen which of course it did.

Aviation and the Royal Air force

Ian was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (Training) Branch on 6 July 1967. From 1967 until 1988 he served with squadrons in the Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Kent and Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire Wings. Initially he was the Squadron Adjutant with 2326 (Clay Cross) Squadron He was promoted to Flying Officer in 1969 before moving to the 1359 (Beeston) Squadron as a Squadron Officer in 1970. In 1971 was transferred to the 129 (Tunbridge Wells) Squadron before being appointed as the Commanding Officer of the Squadron’s Detached Flight in Tonbridge. Under his command the Tonbridge Detached Flight achieved full Squadron status as 2520 (Tonbridge) Squadron. At this stage, he moved to Hertfordshire and was appointed as a squadron officer with 220 (St Albans) Squadron. In 1974 was posted to 57 (Potters Bar) Squadron, initially as a Squadron Officer and then as the Commanding Officer. He was promoted to Flight Lieutenant on assuming command. Under his command, cadet numbers increased to make it the largest squadron in the Hertfordshire Wing. The Squadron had a poor record for participation in sport but within two years it had become the top squadron for sport in the Hertfordshire. In 1979 because of the pressure of working in London he requested to relinquish command of 57 (Potters Bar) Squadron and was posted to 1166 (Welwyn Garden City) Squadron as a Squadron Officer while reverting to the rank of Flying Officer. In 1980 he was appointed the Commanding Officer and promoted to Flight Lieutenant. Again civilian work pressures and young family, were such that he decided to relinquish his commission but was appointed as the Wing Physical Education Officer. He recalled that when the Wing Commanding Officer told him of his appointment Ian said ‘but Sir I do not know the difference between a football and a rugby ball’ only to be told that to know that there was a difference was sufficient knowledge for the posting. The Herts & Bucks Wing (as it was now after the merger of the Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire Wings) moved within a year from being the second-worst wing for sport in the country to the second best. In 1982 was promoted to Squadron Leader with responsibility for 10 Squadrons. The following year he was promoted to Wing Commander and appointed as Officer Commanding the Hertfordshire & Buckinghamshire Wing. He was 37 years of age and the youngest RAFVR(T) Wing Commander at that time. He served for 4 years building the Wing from 900 to 1300 cadets. He was offered a further 4 years as the Wing CO but declined because his civil occupation was so time consuming. In the New Years Honours List 1988 he received an OBE (Military Division) which was presented to him by the Queen in March 1988. He recalled having to buy a new uniform for the investiture as he had disposed of his uniform when he relinquished his commission. Shortly after the investiture, the RAF Director of Media Relations asked Ian to re-join the RAFVR to become a member of 7644 (Media Operations) Squadron RAFVR. 7644 was staffed by journalists, television & radio presenters who were commissioned into the RAFVR. In peacetime, the Squadron gave assistance to the RAF and in wartime it was mobilised to supplement the RAF media resources. Ian was required to attend the Reserve Officers Initial Training Course at the RAF College Cranwell as an Acting Pilot Officer notwithstanding 21 years previous service. He believed he must have been only Acting Pilot Officer to hold an OBE. In 1991 he was mobilised to serve in the RAF during the 1st Gulf War. He was based both in Saudi Arabia & Bahrain. In 1994, he relinquished his commission having been advised by his civilian employer that he had to choose between remaining a director of the bank or to become a RAF officer. In 1987 he trained at RAF Halton for his private pilots licence (PPL) which he received in 1988. Since then he has flown regularly and has amassed 1500 hours in 17 different aircraft types. He has flown in the USA, Continental Europe and Australia. In 2003 he was conducting a test flight his Piper Arrow after its annual service when the undercarriage would not extend so he landed the aircraft at Denham Airfield on its belly. He said the landing was very good as he had walked away uninjured and the aircraft was re-useable. On arrival home after the incident, he is reported to have consumed copious amounts of malt whisky.

Educational and Charitable Work

Ian was appointed to the Council of the Chartered Institute of Banker in 1987 and became its Treasurer in 1992. He believed that the education and training of bankers was vital. He often said there were great similarities between the training of bankers and pilots as both activities required a thorough understanding of the theory which then had to be put into practice. He submitted extensive written evidence to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201314/jtselect/jtpcbs/... He placed responsibility for the UK banking crises 2007 on Gordon Brown who as Chancellor of the Exchequer removed responsibility for banking regulation from the Bank of England to the Finacial Services Authority so enabling banks to appoint unquafied inexperienced directors, be they executive or non-executive.

At Flemings he was a member the board of its educational trust and used his position to ensure that the air cadet organisation, the RAF charities and his local RAF station at Halton were recipients of the generosity of the trust. In 1993 he became a non-executive director of the NAAFI and oversaw the sale of part of its financial services business to HSBC so that the proceeds could be invested in the core activities of the NAAFI such as shops and clubs on military bases. In 2010 he joined the Board of Trustees of the Royal British Legion chairing its finance and investment committees. He resigned in 2012 expressing disappointment in its corporate governance and its failure to direct resources at ‘getting veterans off-the-streets'

Personal Life

In 1970, he married Janet Hewitt and they had a daughter Alison Janet in 1972, a son Gordon Ian in 1973 and second son Robert James in 1979.

Publications

The Nature & Extent of Competition Between the London Clearing Banks 1979

Credit Cards 1995

The Bond of Trust 2015