Clydesdale Bank owner Virgin Money has launched a hunt for a new chairman after financial services veteran Jim Pettigrew announced he plans to retire from the role by September 2021.
The Glasgow-based group said the move was in line with the board’s succession plan and good corporate governance practice. Pettigrew, who was paid £375,000 in fees by the bank last year, will have served nine years on the board by 2021.
“The board has therefore initiated a search process to allow time to identify his successor and enable an orderly handover,” Virgin Money said in a brief statement.
Dundee-born chartered accountant Pettigrew joined the then CYBG group in September 2012 and became chairman in 2014. He has held a series of top jobs across the financial services sector. He was formerly chief executive at CMC Markets, chief operating officer at Ashmore Group, group finance director at ICAP PLC and deputy group finance director at Sedgwick Group. He is a past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and a former chairman of Scottish Financial Enterprise.
CYBG has undergone massive transition over the last 18 months, taking over the former Northern Rock business Virgin Money in October 2018 and last year beginning the process that will rebrand the historic Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks as Virgin.
In November, Virgin Money’s maiden results as a combined business with Clydesdale and Yorkshire showed a loss after tax of £194 million plus a provision of £385 million to pay for the PPI scandal.
