Our guest is Paul Pester, a portfolio non-executive Chair and Director.
Paul was the founding Group Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Money, where he established the business as an early digital disruptor in UK financial services and went on to launch the iconic Virgin brand in retail financial services in Australia and South Africa. He was Managing Director at Santander UK, leading the acquisition of Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester, and was the CEO of TSB Banking Group for seven years. During this time, he led the creation and successful launch of the bank in 2013, its £1.4bn IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2014 and built the business to become the UK’s largest challenger bank. TSB was the subject of a £1.7bn acquisition by the Spanish bank Sabadell in mid-2015.
Currently, he Chairs Fairer Finance’s Consumer Advisory Board, is a non-executive Director at the consumer lending business Oplo, a Board advisor at credit card business Jaja Finance and an advisor to the fintech start-up Cardeo.
A former advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on banking competition, Paul spent his early career in management consulting, the majority of which was at McKinsey & Co.
Paul Pester