FT Anyonio23 Apr 2021 14:17
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António Horta-Osório: ‘Lloyds was about to die’
The incoming Credit Suisse chief on his battles in finance, stress, tabloid troubles — and why Rafael Nadal is his idol
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Patrick Jenkins 44 MINUTES AGO
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Next week, after a successful 15-year spell in the UK, António Horta-Osório will board a plane to Zurich hoping to have a similar impact in Switzerland.
When the Portuguese banker made Britain his home in 2006, he was a relative unknown, dispatched by Spain’s Banco Santander to run its new UK arm, the former Abbey National. But in the years that followed he has become a pillar of the British establishment, as few foreign bankers have: he was picked by the chancellor of the exchequer to bring the part-nationalised Lloyds Bank back from near-death; he was granted a plum role on the governing court of the Bank of England; and from day one he has played tennis at that sporting icon of the ruling class, Queen’s Club in West Kensington.
Along the way, he bought a £4m house in Chelsea, was appointed chair of the Wallace Collection of fine art and, much to his delight, has become a British citizen. He has also worked so hard and in such stressful circumstances that on one occasion he had to be signed off work — and he has experienced the full force of the tabloids turning their attention on his private life.
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Appropriately enough, we are having lunch at Scott’s in Mayfair, the acclaimed seafood restaurant that has quickly drawn back its pre-pandemic mix of high financiers and look-at-me celebrities. It is a chilly but sunny day and one of the first since the mid-April lockdown easing that allowed outdoor dining to resume. The exuberance of the liberated guests on Scott’s terrace seems to have infected the 57-year-old and famously suave Horta-Osório, prompting an outpouring of affection for the home he will soon leave.
“When I was appointed to the Court of the Bank of England, I felt people here had adopted me. I felt very much part of you, part of London, part of the UK.”
As if to prove the point he has ordered a staple of the Scott’s menu, dressed crab, to start, followed by Dover sole and a side order of spinach — austere in comparison with my steamed asparagus, plus mushroom risotto.
Only last year, Mervyn King, the former BoE governor and a fellow tennis fanatic, hailed Horta-Osório’s achievement at having turn
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