Senior figures at the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority are seeking to block Metro Bank PLC's appointment of Ben Gunn as its new deputy chairman and are pushing for a wider overhaul of the lender's board, the Financial Times reported.

Gunn, previously the lender's senior independent director, is in line to take over as deputy chairman, a change that does not need formal approval. However, people at the Financial Conduct Authority are looking to intervene.

The London-based lender faced scrutiny in January after it admitted it had made a mistake in the way it accounted for some loans. The bank had included some of its commercial property and other specialist loans in the wrong risk band, meaning it did not have as much capital to fund them as it should.

There have subsequently been calls for risk-weighted assets to be independently audited.