He then joined Kingfisher plc, rising to the position of chief operating officer.

[3] Touted as a replacement for Kingfisher CEO Ian Cheshire, he joined the Co-operative Group in April 2013, taking over from Peter Marks as chief executive.

[5] The difficulties stemmed largely from the commercial loans of the Britannia Building Society, acquired in the 2009 merger.

[7] In March 2014, Sutherland resigned from The Co-operative because he said "I now feel that until the Group adopts professional and commercial governance it will be impossible to implement what my team and I believe are the necessary changes and reforms to renew the Group and give it a relevant and sustainable future".

The insurance firm, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of the group 's earnings, has needed to dramatically slash premiums to stay profitable.