A professional banker, Salman Butt [Images], was on Tuesday named managing director of the 2011 World Cup central organising secretariat amid rising concerns over the slow pace of preparations for the mega-event in South Asia.

The Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed Butt's selection had been approved by the International Cricket Council [Images].

"Butt will serve as managing director at the World Cup headquarters in Lahore [Images] and even the chairman of the central organizing committee, Sharad Pawar [Images], has given his approval," a board official said.

Butt is a senior official in the Royal Bank of Scotland and played an instrumental role in getting the bank to sign sponsorship deals with the board in the last two years.

The official, meanwhile, admitted that the 2011 World Cup secretariat was a year behind its schedule in preparations for the tournament.

"All four South-Asian countries (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka [Images] and Bangladesh) are keen to host the World Cup despite recent Indo-Pak tensions. So with the appointment of the MD we are confident the secretariat would start functioning full throttle soon," the official said.

"The fact is this secretariat should have been functional by January 2008 so we are at least a year back in our preparations," he added.