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Three Senior Managers at TSB Bank to Step Down

Sabadell Says Three Senior Managers at U.K. TSB Arm to Step Down

(Bloomberg) -- Three senior executives at Banco de Sabadell SA’s British unit will step down in an overhaul that the bank said is unrelated to the meltdown of its IT system earlier this year.

The U.K. arm, known as TSB Banking Group, will see Treasurer Ian Firth, Chief Marketing Officer Nigel Gilbert and Human Resources Director Rachel Lock retire in the coming months. Firth and Gilbert will be succeeded by internal appointments, according to a TSB statement on Friday. No replacement has yet been found for Lock, who will leave after six years at the lender.

Three Senior Managers at TSB Bank to Step Down

The retirements are unconnected to the problems TSB encountered in the migration of new computer systems earlier this year, a bank spokesman said. The meltdown left thousands of customers unable to access services at TSB, which was acquired by Sabadell in 2015. The Spanish bank was hit by a 203.1 million-euro ($235 million) charge related to the business in the second quarter.

Chief Executive Officer Paul Pester, who has run the lender since 2013, said he takes “absolute responsibility” for “unacceptable” customer service, in testimony before the Treasury Select Committee in London in May. However, Pester denied that the new IT platform was rolled out prematurely without adequate testing or that its Spanish parent company, which provided the system, put pressure on them to speed up the process. He’s faced pressure from lawmakers to step down.

Sabadell said in a statement that Pester continues to have the full backing of the board. In a separate message to TSB employees, Lock said her departure had been planned since last year.

“I know our resolve has been tested in recent months, but I’ve no doubt that TSB will continue to put things right for our customers and partners,” Lock said.

TSB’s deputy treasurer, Alison Straszewski, will succeed Firth as treasurer, while Marketing Director Pete Markey becomes chief marketing officer, TSB said. The bank also named George Gordon as its new communications and corporate affairs director.

To contact the reporters on this story: Stefania Spezzati in London at sspezzati@bloomberg.net;Charlie Devereux in Madrid at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, ;Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon

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