Nationwide Building Society has announced that Joe Garner will succeed Graham Beale as chief executive from next Spring.
He will join from his current position as chief executive of BT’s Openreach, a position he has held since early 2014.
Prior to that he was deputy chief executive of HSBC Bank and head of HSBC in the UK, roles which included responsibility for all its retail and commercial banking business, including Marks & Spencer Bank, First Direct and The John Lewis Partnership Card.
Mr Garner was also the chair of the Financial Services Authority Practitioner Panel from 2011 to 2013 and a non-executive director of the Financial Ombudsman Service from 2007 to 2010.
Nationwide’s chairman David Roberts said that he has an excellent track record in delivering outstanding service to customers across the financial services and retail sectors.
“Joe is an exceptional leader and is exactly the right person to lead the society through the next chapter of its journey.”
Mr Garner remarked on Nationwide’s “remarkable heritage” and the fact that as a mutual it is owned by its customers means that it is uniquely placed to lead and succeed in the next chapter of retail financial services in the UK.
Regulatory approval has been received under the current approved persons regime, although this is subject to the incoming senior managers regime arrangements being introduced in March 2016.
It is expected that Mr Garner’s remuneration package will be comparable with that of retiring chief executive Mr Beale.
peter.walker@ft.com
