Paul Myners, Baron Myners
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
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In office 16 October 2008 – 16 January 2022 Life peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | 1 April 1948 |
Died | 16 January 2022 London, England | (aged 73)
Nationality | British |
Political party | None (crossbencher) |
Other political affiliations |
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Spouses |
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Children | 5 |
Education | University of London |
Paul Myners, Baron Myners,
Myners began working in the financial sector in 1974 at
Early life and education
Myners was adopted at the age of two by a
Career
Business
After serving on the Rothschild board of directors from 1977 to 1985, Myners moved to pension fund manager Gartmore Group as chief executive and was appointed chairman in 1987.[6] During his tenure Gartmore's assets under management rose from £1.2bn in 1985 to £75bn,[5] with Myners personally earning an estimated £30m.[7] After retiring from Gartmore in 2000, he chose to focus on a wider range of interests, acting as non-executive director and chairman of a number of companies and third sector institutions.[5]
From 2002 to 2007 Myners was chairman of Aspen Insurance Holdings, a Bermuda-based insurance company.
Public service and philanthropy
Myners compiled reports on institutional investment (the Myners Report, questioning whether pension funds were acting in the interests of their beneficiaries), equity capital raising and governance for HM Treasury and the Department of Trade and Industry [two reports before 1997 and three after]. This report gave rise to the Myners Principles which formed the basis for good stewardship of the investment of pension funds and endowments. The Myners Report also made the case for investors taking a more active interest in the ownership of investee companies ('activism') and argued that investment banks should no longer be paid for research by transaction commission, a practice which he argued was misaligned with good ownership and lacking in transparency and accountability.
In 2000 Myners became Chairman of the Guardian Media Group, publisher of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers and was appointed a non-executive director of the Bank of England.
Between August 2007 and October 2008 he was Chairman of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA), the body tasked under the Pensions Act 2007 with implementing the UK Government's plans for a new national pensions savings scheme for private sector workers on low and moderate incomes. He resigned this position on his appointment as a minister.[11] PADA morphed into NEST, the National Employment Savings Trust, the national workplace pension scheme established by the Government which will become the UK's largest pension scheme.[citation needed]
Myners also served as chairman of the
Government minister
On 3 October 2008 Myners was appointed
As City Minister Myners had responsibility for leading the £500bn 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package in the aftermath of the global financial crisis,[5] as well as for a number of major agencies sponsored by the Treasury including The Debt Management Office, National Savings & Investment, UK Financial Investments and the Asset Protection Agency. Myners also handled the routine ministerial interface between the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority.[citation needed]
In February 2009 Lord Myners was at the centre of controversy concerning the amount of pension paid to
After government
After the Labour Party's loss in the 2010 general election in May 2010, Myners remained in the House of Lords. Until 2014 Myners served as a backbench Labour peer, before resigning to sit as a non-affiliated member and from 7 July 2015 as a crossbencher.[20]
Myners joined the board of
In February 2011, Lord Myners became chairman and a partner of Autonomous Research LLP, an independent equity research firm.[21]
In June 2011, Lord Myners became chairman and a partner of Cevian Capital (UK) LLP, the UK arm of Cevian Capital, the largest active ownership (or activist) manager in Europe.[22]
In October 2012, Lord Myners was appointed President of the Howard League for Penal Reform, replacing the outgoing Lord Carlile of Berriew QC.[23][24]
In March 2013, Lord Myners joined the board of OJSC MegaFon, a London-listed company that is one of the three largest mobile operators in Russia.[25] Myners was appointed to represent the interest of independent shareholders and served on the Board until the end of 2017.[citation needed]
Lord Myners was the chairman of Platform Acquisition Holdings Ltd, which in May 2013 listed on the London Stock Exchange, raising $905 million earmarked for acquiring a target business expected to have an enterprise value of between $750 million and $2.5 billion.[26]
Platform was a Special Purpose Acquisition Company or SPAC (referred to in the US as a blank cheque corporation). He subsequently Chaired a number of other SPACs, including one that acquired the worldwide operations of Burger King and another that bought the European operations of Birds Eye and Findus.[citation needed]
In December 2013 he joined the Board of the troubled Co-operative Group as senior independent director to produce and publish for the members an independent report on governance. It was brought close to collapse in the year by losses in its banking subsidiary. The Co op is the largest convenience store retailer in the UK. Myners limited his payment for this work to £1.[27][28]
On 1 February 2015 Lord Myners was appointed Chair of the Court of Governors and Council of the London School of Economics and Political Science, succeeding Peter Sutherland.[29]
In 2016, Lord Myners took up role as University Chancellor of the University of Exeter from Baroness Benjamin.[30][31]
In 2020 Lord Myners was active in seeking funding for the Stadium for Cornwall.[32]
Personal life and death
He was first married to Tessa Stanford-Smith, a school teacher, from 1972 to 1993, and then to Alison Macleod, former chair of the
Myners died at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, on 16 January 2022, at the age of 73 after contracting COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in England.[35][9]
Awards
Myners was awarded a
In July 2010 he was elected chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Corporate Governance and in November 2010 was admitted as an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.[37]
See also
- Pensions Act 1995
- Politics in England
- Stewardship Code
References
- ^ Wright, Ben (7 May 2014). "City Minister Myners Damns Co-op's 'Near Ruinous' Failure of Governance". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
- ^ Mollins, Julie (14 December 2009). "Send in questions for city minister Paul Myners". Reuters. Archived from the original on 19 December 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
- ^ "Paul Myners CBE". HM Treasury (archived by The National Archive). Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Bank crisis role for Lord Myners". The Herald. South West Media Group. 28 October 2008. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g Paul Myners: Man with a plan The Independent, 11 October 2008
- ^ a b c d Brook, Stephen "Paul Myners leaving GMG to take government role", The Guardian, 3 October 2008, retrieved 4 October 2008
- Daily Telegraph, 28 February 2009
- ^ "Jones to Succeed Myners as Aspen Board Chairman". 19 April 2007.
- ^ a b Partington, Richard (16 January 2022). "Paul Myners, 'tower of strength' in financial crisis, dies aged 73". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ Burgess, Kate (10 March 2006). "Myners back in fund management at Liberty Ermitage". Archived from the original on 29 June 2013 – via Financial Times.
- ^ Milner, Leah (6 October 2008). "Paul Myners to leave PADA in ministerial move". Money Marketing. Archived from the original on 23 December 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
- ^ House of Commons, Treasury Committee. Banking Crisis: Reforming Corporate Governance and Pay in the City, Ninth Report of Session 2008–09. p. 42.
- ^ a b c Paul Myners CBE Archived 1 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine HM Treasury Ministerial Profiles, retrieved 23 February 2009
- ^ "No. 58860". The London Gazette. 23 October 2008. p. 16319.
- ^ Warner, Jeremy (27 February 2009). "Myners cited in Goodwin row". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
- ^ "McKillop: No RBS pension 'ruse'". BBC News Online. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2009.
- ^ "House of Commons Treasury Committee; Banking Crisis: reforming corporate governance and pay in the City. Ninth Report of Session 2008–09" (PDF). May 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2009. Summary pp3-4; full text paragraphs 121–123
- ^ "Banking Crisis Vol III" (PDF). House of Commons Treasury Committee.
- ^ "Lord Myners' critics need a sense of proportion over RBS and Sir Fred Goodwin". The Telegraph. 23 March 2009.
- ^ "MPs and Lords: Parliamentary career for Lord Myners". members.parliament.uk. UK Parliament. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- ^ "Autonomous to name Myners chairman". Financial Times. 6 February 2011. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- ^ "Activism advocate Myners to join Cevian". Financial Times. 30 May 2011. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
- ^ "Howard League for Penal Reform announces new President". Howard League for Penal Reform. Archived from the original on 22 November 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ "Official Biography of Lord Myners at Parliament.uk". Parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
- ^ http://english.corp.megafon.ru/investors/corporate_governance/board_of_directors/members_of_the_board/lord_myners.html [dead link]
- ^ "Platform Acquisition Holdings Ltd Initial Public Offering – Replacement". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Treanor, Jill (16 January 2014). "Lord Myners to undertake review of way Co-operative Group is run". The Guardian.
- ^ Quinn, James (12 December 2013). "Lord Myners appointed to Co-op board to review governance". The Daily Telegraph. London.
- ^ "Lord Myners appointed LSE Chair of Governors - 2014 - Around LSE archives - Around LSE - News and media - Home". Archived from the original on 17 April 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- ^ "University of Exeter". www.exeter.ac.uk.
- ^ "The Chancellor | About us | University of Exeter". www.exeter.ac.uk.
- ^ "Myners asks PM for £14m stadium funding". BBC Sport.
- ^ "Lord Myners to succeed Floella Benjamin as Chancellor of the University of Exeter". The Packet. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
- ^ a b "Paul Myners: Man with a plan". The Independent. 22 October 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
- ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
- ^ "Executive Education courses - London Business School".
- ^ "Lord Myners, the Hester Bonus and corporate governance". Legal Aware. Retrieved 19 June 2013.