Richard has joined from HSBC, where he was initially appointed chief operating officer for the UK commercial bank in 2014 and was responsible for a range of areas, including lending products, business and regulatory change, client on-boarding and digital transformation.

In 2016, Richard took up a global role at HSBC focused on driving strategic change for clients, with a design-led concentration on digital innovation and client experience.

Prior to his time at HSBC, Richard was CEO of OakNorth, where he led the process to design the business model, develop regulatory licence submissions and recruit the team to enter the UK market.

He had previously spent nine years in senior roles at Barclays, including managing director for UK global corporates, and head of South East commercial banking.

Richard said: “It's great to start the year on the ground at TSB as we get set to launch the future of local banking for businesses in 2018.

“I'm looking forward to seeing us take on the business banking market in the same way that TSB has already challenged consumer banking.

“Small businesses in the UK have been underserved, under-valued and over-charged for far too long.

“It is absolutely critical that we address the stagnation of productivity in the UK – small business is right at the heart of that challenge.

“There's a real moment of opportunity to create something better for businesses in the UK with the next generation of business banking and TSB … leading the charge.

“I've always been inspired by the capacity of small businesses to ride the economic waves, create jobs and serve local communities.

“We need to bring back 'local' to business banking.

“Local communities need local businesses, and TSB will play a big part in making that happen.

“I'm looking forward to growing our commercial banking team at TSB to really deliver on that potential.'

Paul Pester, CEO of TSB, added: “We're setting out to strengthen our support for local businesses that form the lifeblood of the UK economy – and bring much-needed competition to the business banking market from 2018.

“I'm delighted to welcome Richard to TSB as our new commercial banking director to make that happen.

“The combination of Richard's entrepreneurial flair seen at OakNorth Bank, combined with his experience in leading commercial banking arms at HSBC and Barclays means he will be a real catalyst to develop TSB's ambitions in this area.'