Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, is to step down in the summer, ending a five-year stint at the pan-industry group that has seen the sector endure its biggest banking crisis since the Great Depression.

Knight, a former CEO at the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers (1997-2006), and previously a finance minister in the Conservative administration of John Major, will stay on in her role while a search for a new CEO is concluded.

During her BBA role, Knight has dealt with developments such as the transfer of regulatory powers from the Financial Services Authority to the Bank of England, and calls by the Independent Commission on Banking for retail banking services to be “ringfenced” from other functions such as investment banking. Her tenure has seen a relentless assault on bankers’ bonuses and business practices and criticisms of how the Libor interbank interest rate is set. Knight, a regular figure at conferences and commentator on television, has warned that excessively burdensome regulation of London’s financial sector could drive business abroad.

“I have been at the British Bankers’ Association at a time of extraordinary difficulty and during a crisis of a magnitude that few if any have seen before or expected,” Knight said in a statement.

Knight is also a non-executive director on the boards of Brewin Dolphin, Tullett Prebon and a board member of the Financial Skills Partnership.

The BBA is the trade association for the UK banking and financial services sector, representing more than 200 member banks from 60 countries.

Last week, the BBA said it favours gradual change of the Libor interest rate regime and is consulting on the matter. There have been allegations that the global benchmark rate has been manipulated.