Deloitte’s Ian Smith to take top role at Clydesdale

A SCOTTISH financial services partner at Big Four accountant Deloitte has been named as the new finance chief at Clydesdale Bank.
Ian Smith joins Clydesdale next month from DeloitteIan Smith joins Clydesdale next month from Deloitte
Ian Smith joins Clydesdale next month from Deloitte

The recruitment of Ian Smith as chief financial officer follows the appointment of Jim Pettigrew as chairman of the bank earlier this month,

Smith, who will join the bank next month, will serve on Clydesdale’s UK executive committee and report to chief executive David Thorburn.

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The chartered accountant, an economics graduate of Aberdeen University who lives near Kinross, has been a partner specialising in financial services at Deloitte for 12 years and has also held senior finance roles with Lloyds Banking Group and HBOS.

Thorburn said: “Ian brings tremendous expertise and experience gained from over 20 years of broad-based finance roles in both the financial and manufacturing sectors. I am confident his skills will be invaluable as we continue to build a better bank for our customers.”

The finance role became vacant earlier this year when former chief financial officer Scott Butterworth took up a new role with parent firm NAB Group in Australia. Richard Ellison has been acting chief financial officer. Last month, NAB warned that Clydesdale faces an additional hit of at least £245 million to cover the cost of mis-sold loan insurance and complex interest rate swap products.

Although NAB’s profits rose 7 per cent to A$1.6bn (£891.4m) in the third quarter, Thorburn said the group’s UK operations “still face a number of challenges”. Full-year results at the group are expected on 30 October.

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