Skipton Building Society said its group chief financial officer (CFO) Bobby Ndawula has today announced he will be leaving the mutual and that Standard Chartered’s Paul Chambers will become the new group CFO next spring, subject to regulatory approval.
“Having joined Skipton in 2003, Bobby’s career has seen him progress through to group finance director and latterly to group chief financial officer for the larger Skipton Group,” said the building society.
“Within the Skipton Group, Bobby also sits on the board of Connells – the UK’s largest estate agency and property services provider – and is chair of Skipton International – the award-winning bank based in Guernsey that aside from traditional banking services also provides mortgages on UK buy-to-let property for expats and residents overseas.
“During his time at Skipton, Bobby has stewarded the business – significantly growing and strengthening its financial standing.
“Today Skipton Group has over 1.1m members, and 1,200 branches, providing mortgages, savings, estate agency services and free financial advice for members. It has unique insight into the housing market.”
Skipton Building Society said on August 2 its savings balances grew 5.2% to £23.6 billion, group mortgage balances rose 6.8% to £27.2 billion and society membership grew 3.1% to over 1.17 million in the first half of 2023.
Ndawula said: “After 20 incredible years at Skipton, culminating in spending the past year with our new CEO working on some of the most exciting and far-reaching strategic priorities, it feels the right time to begin handing over the reins and to move on to a new opportunity.
“It’s been an absolute privilege and a very special part of my career to date; and I depart knowing the business is in very capable hands.
“Skipton has such an incredible opportunity to play a leading role in two of the most important aspects of all our lives – having somewhere to call home and being able to save for the future.
“As part of a powerful group aligned to deliver this, Skipton is uniquely placed to make a big difference to people’s lives.”
Skipton Group CEO Stuart Haire said: “Over the years Bobby has provided remarkable financial management of our growing business.
“His commitment, counsel and strategic leadership has always been rooted in his profound belief in our customer-focussed purpose. To Bobby, finance is much more than numbers – it’s about helping our members achieve their financial goals.
“We will of course be very sorry to see Bobby leave, but he does so with our very best wishes and gratitude for his service.
“With Bobby’s departure next year, we now turn to our new chapter, and I’m delighted that Paul Chambers will be joining the group from Standard Chartered Group.
“Paul has been CFO of Europe and America and is currently Group Financial Controller. Paul has deep financial expertise and a strong track record.
“He has excellent knowledge of both mortgage and advise markets. Additionally, he is well informed about the group, our story, our financial strength, and our unparalleled potential to drive transformative change in the UK housing market and financial services industry.
“These really are exciting times for everyone at Skipton as we leverage our collective group capability.
“Continuing to attract top talent demonstrates the impact we’re having – and we very much look forward to welcoming Paul to this new phase of our group journey.”