Rod Kent, the embattled executive chairman of Bradford & Bingley, may have held the role for only a few weeks, but he has spent the best part of three decades at the top of Britain's banking sector.

Mr Kent, 60, was the obvious choice to take over the day-to-day running of Bradford & Bingley after Steven Crawshaw, the chief executive, retired because of ill health. He was best known for his long tenure at the niche investment bank Close Brothers, of which he was chief executive and later chairman, a role he relinquished to concentrate on B&B.

Mr Kent took over from Mr Crawshaw after the bank's surprise profit warning in May, and was well aware of the financial trouble the bank was in, as he had been B&B's chairman for six years.

It was hoped that his experience in investment banking would allow him to guide through B&B's rights issue, before allowing someone else to take the reins at the bank with a secure base to work from. Those hopes seemed to be dashed on Thursday when TPG pulled out of plans to buy a significant stake in the bank.

Mr Kent, a doctor's son, joined Close Brothers, Britain's oldest independent finance house, in 1964. Four years later he led one of the UK's first management buyouts with the backing of two colleagues, putting in £25,000 of his own cash after remortgaging his home.

The Oxford-educated banker oversaw successive years of record profits at Close Brothers, but when he stepped down as chief executive in 2002 profits at the investment bank were falling rapidly.

After leaving Close Brothers, Mr Kent converted himself into a City grandee, taking up a number of roles inside and outside the Square Mile. As well as his duties at B&B, he is chairman of Grosvenor Limited and of the BT pension scheme trustees and is a former chairman of M&G, the fund management group. He is also chairman of B&B's nominations committee, a member of the remuneration committee and of the balance sheet management committee.

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