Steve Pateman has agreed to join Shawbrook Group plc as its new chief executive officer (CEO).

Pateman (pictured) will Shawbrook from Santander UK, where he is executive director and head of UK banking, on 1 January 2016, subject to regulatory approval.

Before joining Santander UK, he spent eight years at RBS, where he was CEO of business banking, retail markets and managing director of commercial banking and corporate banking, corporate markets.

Following Richard Pyman’s decision to take leave of absence on 21 May 21, he will be stepping down as CEO and from the board and will leave the group with immediate effect.

Tom Wood, who has been running the bank during Pyman’s absence will remain interim CEO until Pateman’s arrival, after which he will continue his role as chief financial officer.

“Richard has helped develop Shawbrook into a specialist lending and savings bank that supports our customers with first class service and strong values,” said Iain Cornish, Shawbrook’s chairman.

“The Board is extremely grateful to Richard for his exceptional commitment and contribution to the Group, in particularly for his leadership through the bank’s successful IPO. The Board would also like to thank Tom for his energy and dedication in leading Shawbrook to continue to deliver strong results as interim chief executive officer.

“On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to welcome Steve as Shawbrook’s new chief executive. He brings a tremendous breadth and depth of experience across all of our asset classes and an outstanding track record in building highly successful SME banking businesses. His absolute focus on delivering excellent customer service fits perfectly with the bank’s specialist and relationship driven model and we are confident that Steve will help Shawbrook to achieve even greater success in the future.”

Bateman added: “I know the Shawbrook team well. There is much ambition and the Group’s expertise and people are highly regarded throughout the UK banking sector. They have made tremendous progress leading up to and since its listing in April this year and I am really looking forward to working with the senior management team, the board of directors, and all the employees of Shawbrook to build on the group’s strong momentum.”