Shawbrook Banks On Cornish As New Chairman

One of the independent scrutineers of banking regulators' inquiry into the collapse of HBOS is to be named as the new chairman of Shawbrook, one of the start-up lenders spawned by the 2008 financial crisis.

Sky News has learnt that Iain Cornish is close to being appointed to the role, with an announcement to the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) expected in the coming days.

Mr Cornish, a former chief executive of the Yorkshire Building Society, has been assisting banking watchdogs with their HBOS probe, the publication of which has been delayed several times, sparking anger from parliamentarians.

Last month, he stepped down from the board of the Prudential Regulation Authority in order to take up an unspecified position elsewhere.

Insiders confirmed that the Shawbrook chairmanship was the post to which that statement had referred.

Mr Cornish will replace Sir George Mathewson, the former Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) chief who led the bank before handing over the reins to Fred Goodwin.

Sir George's intention to leave Shawbrook was disclosed in last month's announcement about its stock market listing, which raised nearly £100m.

The challenger bank, which was set up in 2011 to exploit the decline in asset finance and commercial mortgage lending to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) by big high street lenders, is valued by the market at just over £760m.

Coincidentally, Mr Cornish this week replaced Sir George in another boardroom role, that of senior independent director of Arrow Group, the debt collection agency.

The board reshuffle at Shawbrook comes amid a flurry of corporate activity involving challenger banks, with rival Aldermore also seeing its shares perform well since their debut.

The listings have highlighted the appetite among investors for shares in well-run banks not saddled by legacy issues, and offering an attractive return on equity.

Shawbrook saw rapid customer loan growth in 2014 of 70% to £2.3bn, while pre-tax profit trebled to more than £50m.

A string of other start-up banks have begun to emerge in the years since the banking crash, including Metro Bank and OakNorth, which recently announced that Lord Turner, the former chairman of the Financial Services Authority, would join its board.

Meanwhile, Atom Bank, a digital-only venture, has also recruited a number of prominent City figures and is in the process of raising £75m to fund its launch plans.

New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) measures to promote competition in banking were unveiled in last month's Budget and have featured in both the Conservative and Labour General Election manifestos‎.

The Competition and Markets Authority is due to conclude an inquiry into the personal current accounts and SME banking markets later this year.

Shawbrook declined to comment on Wednesday.