After achieving a degree in mathematics at The
University of Glasgow, Higgins began his career in 1983 at
Standard Life in Edinburgh, qualifying as an
actuary and then becoming an investment manager. Higgins left in 1997 for the
Royal Bank of Scotland, where he became chief executive of Retail Banking and was involved in setting up
Tesco Personal Finance. He was part of the team (alongside
Fred Goodwin and
George Mathewson) that acquired and integrated
NatWest in 2000. At the time of his departure from RBS at the end of 2005 he was chief executive of the Retail Bank which covered both the RBS and NatWest brands. In January 2006, he took the helm of the Retail Business at HBOS. However, he departed at the end of 2007. During his tenure, Higgins' conservative mortgage strategy led to a fall in the share of the market for new mortgage lending from 16 per cent to 8 per cent, although on announcing Higgins' resignation Hornby explicitly denied any link. Analysts were less kind at the time. "Benny Higgins is carrying the can ... for the mortgage debacle in the first half of this year," one said. "He was supposed to be the next big thing for HBOS, coming in from RBS to shake up the HBOS business. Obviously he's been given his marching orders.". In the aftermath of the financial crisis, Higgins was singled out amongst the executives at HBOS for his decision-making with the Financial Times commenting that "MPs must question if homes plan passes the Higgins' test". After a short sabbatical, Higgins returned to banking, taking the position of CEO of
Tesco Personal Finance, later renamed to
Tesco Bank, following Tesco's buy out of RBS's share of their 50:50 joint venture on 28 July 2008. In 2009, he launched
Putting Tesco into Banking and Insurance, a book setting out his vision for Tesco "to become a natural provider of financial services for Tesco Customers". Under his leadership, Tesco Bank expanded to serve more than 8m customers across banking and insurance and employing 5000 people across the UK. Higgins was also Chief Strategy Director of Tesco Group and the Group's lead sponsor of LGBTQ+, which was the biggest corporate group in Europe. As of 2017, he was chairman of the Regulatory Technology company
Kyckr. In September 2017, First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon announced that Higgins would assist the
Scottish Government in establishing a
Scottish National Investment Bank for Scottish infrastructure investment. Higgins made 21 recommendations to the Scottish Government, all of which were accepted. First Minister Sturgeon welcomed and endorsed his report, describing the plans as “truly transformational” and on a “different scale” from earlier government initiatives. In 2019 he became chairman of the
Duke of Buccleuch's estates company, managing the extensive portfolio of property and land owned by the family. Under his chairmanship, Higgins has led efforts to sell land back to local communities In 2021 Higgins became chairman of the personal lines insurance group,
Markerstudy Group, owned by the private capital company
Pollen Street. == Honours and awards ==