The Chancellor of the Exchequer has today announced the
appointment of Oliver Holbourn as the new Chief Executive Officer
of the National Wealth Fund, to lead it through its next chapter.
Oliver brings more than 25 years of experience across banking,
strategy, and public financial investments including CEO roles at
RBS International and, formerly, UK Financial Investments.
The National Wealth Fund is the government's principal investor
and policy bank. It is at the forefront of investing public money
and mobilising private capital to help deliver on the
government's growth and clean energy missions.
Since its launch in October 2024, the National Wealth Fund has
committed £2.5 billion, supporting 10,700 jobs. It also has
expanded firepower, with £5.8 billion of additional capital to
deploy. The NWF's economic capital limit has been increased
allowing it to take on greater risk, providing greater
flexibility over its investments to support more projects to
access private finance.
The Chancellor recently set this government's Strategic
Priorities for the National Wealth Fund over this
Parliament. Under Oliver Holbourn's leadership, the National
Wealth Fund will enter a new phase of delivering these
priorities: significantly increasing the amount of capital it
deploys; expanding into new sectors; and trialling Strategic
Partnerships with Mayoral Strategic Authorities to develop richer
pipelines for regional investment.
This appointment followed a fair and open recruitment process,
and he is expected to take up his post on 1 November.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:
I would like to congratulate Oliver on his appointment as CEO of
the National Wealth Fund.
Oliver brings a wealth of private sector expertise and public
service experience to this critical role. His expertise will be
instrumental in delivering the government's growth and clean
energy missions.
I would like to thank John Flint for his leadership in
successfully transforming the UK Infrastructure Bank into the
National Wealth Fund and for laying a strong foundation for its
future growth.
Incoming CEO of the National Wealth Fund, Oliver Holbourn
said:
The National Wealth Fund has an important role to play in the
economic success of the UK; so I am deeply honoured to be taking
the reins as Chief Executive at such a pivotal time.
I am excited to get to work – using the NWF's expertise and
resources to partner with businesses, investors, mayoral combined
and local authorities, and ministers and stakeholders to mobilise
private investment alongside public sector finance. This will
help drive sustainable economic growth across the UK and support
the clean energy transition.
Chair of the National Wealth Fund, Chris Grigg
said:
Oliver is the ideal person to lead the Fund into our next phase.
He is passionately committed to our mission, brings a rare
combination of senior leadership across both the public and
private sectors, and has a background in banking, which is at the
heart of what we do.
I look forward to working with Oliver to realise the full
potential of our expanded mandate, delivering the Government's
ambitions for growth and clean energy, underpinned by the new
Industrial Strategy.
Biography
Oliver Holbourn was until very recently the CEO of RBS
International Holdings, a subsidiary of the NatWest Group, where
he was on the Group Executive Committee for over four years.
With over 25 years of experience across investment banking,
government investments, and strategic leadership. Oliver brings
deep expertise in managing capital to deliver public value having
previously served as Chief Executive Officer of UK Financial
Investments (UKFI), where he was responsible for managing the
government's shareholdings in RBS, Lloyds and UK Asset
Resolution, overseeing complex, high-value shareholdings on
behalf of the UK taxpayer.
Earlier in his career, Oliver spent over a decade at Bank of
America, latterly as Managing Director of Equity Capital Markets
for the UK, Ireland, and South Africa. His career has been
defined by a strong track record in financial leadership, capital
markets, and public sector engagement.
