Board

Chairman

Appointed to the Board in May 2007, Roy Brown is a Chartered Engineer and Chairman of GKN plc. He is Senior Independent Director of HMV Group plc and a non-executive director of the Franchise Board of Lloyd’s of London. Formerly, he was an executive director of Unilever plc and NV, a non-executive director of Brambles Industries Ltd and plc and the British United Provident Association Ltd (BUPA). He has become the Acting Chairman, following the sad and unexpected death of Sir Derek Higgs on 28 April 2008.

Non-Executive Directors

Appointed to the Board in May 2005, Malcolm Aish is a non-executive director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International plc. His previous career included nearly 30 years with N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd. At the time of his retirement in December 2003 he was Group Risk Director, having previously been Head of Banking. Malcolm was a representative of the London Investment Banking Association to the FSA Advisory Group on the Basel Accord.

Appointed to the Board in 2004, Jane Barker is a Chartered Accountant and is the Chief Executive Officer of Equitas Limited, the company set up to reinsure and run off the 1992 and prior years’ non-life liabilities of Lloyd’s of London Syndicates. She was until recently the Finance Director of Equitas. She was previously a member of the Council of the Open University and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Open University. Her previous roles have included being Finance Director of the London Stock Exchange.

Appointed to the Board in January 2006, Rod Duke’s career has been with HSBC, where he spent over 33 years. At the time of his retirement in 2004 he was General Manager Banking Services and a Group General Manager, managing the bank’s distribution capability for personal and commercial customers. He had previously held a number of executive positions across the bank, including investment banking, credit cards and operations. Rod is a non- executive director of Exedra Clubs Limited.

Appointed to the Board in May 2007, Mary Francis is Senior Independent Director of Centrica plc, a non-executive Director of Aviva plc and St Modwen Properties plc, a Director of the Almeida Theatre Company Limited and a former Director of Fund Distribution Limited. She was previously Director General of the Association of British Insurers, a Director of the Bank of England, and a senior civil servant in the Treasury and 10 Downing Street.

Appointed to the Board in June 2000, Mike McTighe has held a number of directorships, and is currently a member of the Ofcom Board, Chairman of Pace Micro Technology plc, a director of London Metal Exchange Holdings Ltd, and also a chairman of a number of privately held technology companies. Mike also acts as an advisor to several private equity firms. Previously he was Chairman & CEO of Carrier1 International SA, and before that Executive Director & Chief Executive, Global Operations of Cable & Wireless plc. Prior to these experiences, Mike spent five years with Philips of the Netherlands, five years with Motorola, and ten years with GE.

Appointed to the Board in May 2008, Angus Porter is currently Group Strategy Director of Thomas Cook plc. Previously, he was Chief Executive of brand development business Added Value, a subsidiary of WPP. He is a former Customer Director and board member of Abbey National plc, and prior to that was Managing Director of British Telecom’s Consumer Division and held senior roles with Mars Confectionery.

Appointed to the Board in 2004, Margaret Salmon is Chair of the Sector Skills Development Agency and has held non-executive directorships at Kingfisher plc, Manchester Airport Group plc and the University for Industry. Her previous executive roles have included being Chief Executive, BBC Resources Ltd, and HR Director at the BBC and The Burton Group.

Appointed to the Board in May 2000, Jonathan Watts is also President of Geo and Chairman of Alaya Samadhi Ltd. Previously he was Managing Director of COLT Telecommunications, Europe's largest business telephony, data and internet company and held senior positions in the UK and overseas in a number of telecommunications and technology companies, including BellSouth Corp, Sintrom Plc, Datapoint Corp and Control Data Corp.

Executive Directors

Appointed to the Board in 1998, Richard Banks became Group Risk Director in July 2008, with overall responsibility for all of the Group's risk management process. He was previously Managing Director, Commercial Banking and prior to that Distribution Director, Retail Banking, and has held a number of senior positions in Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank plc (formerly Girobank plc) since he joined the Company in 1987.

Appointed to the Board in January 2000, David Bennett became Group Finance Director in October 2001, before being appointed Group Chief Executive in July 2007. He has many years' experience in the financial sector, as Treasurer and then Finance Director of Cheltenham & Gloucester and then as an Executive Director of the National Bank of New Zealand Ltd. He became a non-executive director and Chairman of the Audit Committee of easyJet plc in October 2005.

Appointed to the Board as Group Manufacturing Director in July 2008, Ian Buchanan is responsible for Customer Services, Operations, Technology, and Business Services. He joined the Group in 2005 as IT Director, having previously been Chief Information Officer at Nomura, and prior to that he worked for CSFB, BP and Diageo.

Appointed to the Board in June 2002 as Group Operations Director, Chris Rhodes became Managing Director, Retail Banking in 2003 and was appointed Group Finance Director on 27 July 2007. Previously he has held a number of senior positions with the Group since he joined in 1988, including Deputy Managing Director and Finance Director of Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank plc (formerly Girobank plc).