A top City banker was named today as the head of the London Olympic organising body.

Paul Deighton, the 49-year-old chief operating officer at Goldman Sachs Europe, will leave the investment bank to take up the £300,000 a year job as chief executive officer for Locog - the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Mr Deighton, who is reported to be have a personal wealth of £100 million from his share holdings in the investment bank – making him the 458th richest person in the UK according to the The Sunday Times Rich List - will be responsible for the day-to-day running of an operation that has a budget of £2.4 billion. He is expected to work closely with Locog chairman Lord Coe and the Government's Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell.

"As a Londoner passionate about sport, I am extremely excited about this opportunity," Mr Deighton said.

"To help stage the Olympic Games in my home city is a dream come true.

"The Games has an enormous potential to inspire young people. The memories of the Games I listened to and watched in my childhood are some of the most inspirational memories I have."

Much of Mr Deighton’s 22 years at Goldman Sachs has been focused on establishing the firm’s presence in Europe. He was made a partner and managing director in 1996 and received an estimated £87 million in shares when the bank was floated in 1999.

Lord Coe said Mr Deighton, who will begin his new post in the spring, had been the best of a large selection of highly-qualified candidates.

"We selected Paul because of his experience in leading large international organisations and projects and his track record of managing and growing large teams of people in complex and diverse environments.

"He is the right person to lead the London Olympic Games Organising Committee on its mission to produce an outstanding Olympic Games for the athletes and youth of the world in 2012."

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said the London team could now look forward to the new year with great confidence.

"Paul will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge," she said."His business background and acumen will mean that ... the Games will be superbly well-run, as well as helping deliver the sponsorship and financial support so essential to the success of the Games."

Analysts said Mr Deighton will need to use all his experience if he is to see the job through until 2012. Few previous Olympic chief executives have survived the course, with many resigning or being dumped before the Games after personality clashes or behind schedule plans. Even in the bidding process for 2012, London dropped Barbara Cassani, the former British Airways executive, in the run-up to the city's selection.

Mr Deighton, who is a keen Arsenal fan, admitted he had never been to the Olympics and had no real experience of playing sport but he insisted he was a regular at the gym.

"It is part of how I am to feel fit," he said.

The Goldman touch: read Miles Costello's commentary on the investment bank's public influence.