 After leaving MI5, he worked in the City at stockbroking firm Standard Industrial Group, before joining merchant bank Lazards, where he became the first director to resign in over 100 years.He then established Anglo-Eastern Bank with Sir David Alliance, specialising in trade finance between Britain and the Middle East.Cuckney was appointed chairman of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1970, which he restructured and restored to viability following the possibility of insolvency.