Ex-RBS chief Sir George Mathewson leaves Shawbrook

Sir George Mathewson steps down as Shawbrook chairman. Picture: Kenny Smith

Mathewson held the post at Shawbrook from October 2011, with the bank raising £90 million when it floated on the stock market in April.

Cornish was a founding member of the Prudential Regulation Authority board at the Bank of England in 2013, standing down last March to take up a then-unspecified role outside the regulator that is responsible monitoring the financial strength of banks and insurers.

He work at Yorkshire Building Society for almost 20 years, rising to become its chief executive from 2003 to 2011.

Robin Ashton, senior independent director at Shawbrook, yesterday announcing the change of chairman with immediate effect, said: “We are delighted that Iain is joining the board as chairman, as he brings a wealth of experience and industry knowledge.

“We look forward to his contribution as Shawbrook continues its journey as a public company. We would also like to publicly acknowledge Sir George’s contribution to the founding and growth of Shawbrook over the past four years.”

Cornish added: “I am honoured to become chairman of Shawbrook and to be joining the company following its successful IPO [initial public offering] and at such an exciting stage in its development.”

He is also a senior independent director of Arrow Global Group and St James’s Place. Shawbrook is one of a flurry of challenger banks to take a stock market quote in recent times, including Aldermore and TSB, the latter spun off by taxpayer-backed Lloyds Banking Group and the subject of an agreed takeover by Sabadell of Spain.

Shawbrook chief executive Richard Pyman has been on a temporary leave of absence since May due to illness. Tom Wood, the bank’s chief financial officer, has taken on the role of interim chief executive, while continuing in his finance role.