He joins the specialist bank from Castle Trust Capital, where he was group executive director.

Matthew previously served for five years as an executive director at Nationwide Building Society and was chairman at the Council of Mortgage Lenders for two years in 2009 and 2010.

Hampshire Trust Bank confirmed that Matthew will join the bank immediately as CEO (designate) and take over from Mark Sismey-Durrant, who announced late last year that he would be retiring once his successor was in place.

"I am truly delighted the Hampshire Trust Bank board has secured the services of Matthew Wyles as the bank's next CEO following Mark's decision to retire,' said Robert Sharpe, chairman at Hampshire Trust Bank.

“Matthew is a practitioner well known in the retail and small business banking circles for achieving outstanding results.

“He is exactly the right person to provide the stewardship, entrepreneurial insights and the leadership to successfully steer the bank through the next stage of its development and growth."

Matthew added that specialist banks were already fulfilling a key role in broadening choice for personal and business customers.

“They also play an important and growing part in making the UK economy more productive and efficient.

“Hampshire Trust Bank has already made significant progress since its acquisition by Alchemy in establishing its position as an emerging challenger – it has tremendous development potential.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity of leading the management team to build an exceptional business on the strong foundations which are already in place."