He will succeed current chairman, David Gregson, who has held the role since December 2012 and whose six-year term is coming to an end.

Davies is an experienced chairman, leading Boards in the commercial, not-for-profit, charitable and communications sectors.

He is also a keen tennis enthusiast, with broad experience in the sports industry as a current non-executive director of World Rugby and former member of the Board of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Davies is currently partner and chairman of private equity firm Corsair Capital, chairman of investment business LetterOne and a senior independent director at Diageo.

He is also the chairman of the trustees of the Royal Academy Trust.

In addition, he was the former chief executive and chairman of Standard Chartered plc, and former chair of Chime Communications plc and the Garden Bridge Trust.

Davies was awarded a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002 for his services to the financial sector and was made a peer in 2009.

He has also held a number of Ministerial positions, including Trade Minister.

"To be appointed as the chair of the LTA is a great honour," Davies said.

"I have huge shoes to fill and will do my best to make the sport accessible to all, whilst assisting the Board, Executive and Council in their endeavours.

"I am very excited about the role, since I love many different sports and am a passionate tennis player."

Clare Hollingsworth, the LTA Board's senior independent director, added: "We are delighted to have found a successor of Mervyn's calibre following a robust search process.

"He brings a wealth of leadership and governance experience to the role, from both the sporting and corporate worlds, and we are very excited that he will be leading the LTA Board."

LTA chief executive Scott Lloyd paid tribute to Gregson for his work.

"We would also like to acknowledge the very significant contribution David Gregson has made as the LTA's first independent chairman during the last five-and-a-half years," he said.

"Key among these has included developing a new mission to arrest the long-term decline of the sport, helping craft new values for the organisation, and most critically, playing a lead role in building ever stronger relationships across the sport, its funders and Government."

In March, LTA President Martin Corrie temporarily stepped aside from his role amid an investigation into how an allegation of sexual assault by a coach was handled by a committee he served on.

Britain's Corrie was a member of the Executive Committee at the Hertfordshire County LTA in 2004, when the alleged sexual assault took place.

The LTA has launched a fresh probe into the incident following concerns about how it was dealt with.

David Rawlinson, the deputy President of the national governing body for the sport in England, has taken over from Corrie as acting President.