TSB CEO Paul Pester resigns after IT crash

Signs
are seen outside of a branch of TSB bank in
London
Thomson
Reuters

• Paul Pester, the Chief Executive of TSB has stepped
  down on Tuesday following an IT meltdown in April that affected
  millions of customers and is still causing problems.
• Richard Meddings, a former chair at the bank, will take
  Pester’s place in the interim as they do a “full public search”
  for a new chief executive.
• The news comes after British MP’s put pressure on
  Pester to resign in June, saying that he should give “serious
  consideration as to whether his position was
  sustainable.”

The chief executive of TSB, Paul Pester, has stepped down
following a disastrous IT upgrade and meltdown
in April, which affected millions of customers and is still
causing disruption five months on.

Pester, who has headed the bank for seven years, will hand the
reins to non-executive director Richard Meddings with immediate
effect. Meddings will run the bank temporarily as it does a “full
public search” for a new chief executive.

Meddings admitted the IT problems were yet to be fully resolved
as he announced the departure of Pester. Over the weekend there
was another systems outage which hit thousands of customers.

“Although there is more to do to achieve full stability for
customers, the bank’s IT systems and services are much improved
since the IT migration,” Meddings said.

“Paul and the board have therefore agreed that this is the right
time to appoint a new chief executive for TSB. Our goal is
therefore to allow a full search to commence, without any
distractions, enabling TSB to build for the future.”

The news comes months after British MP’s put pressure on Pester
to resign in June, saying that he should give “serious
consideration as to whether his position was sustainable.”

Pester said, “The last few months have been challenging for
everyone at TSB. However, I want to thank all my colleagues
across TSB for their dedication and commitment during this period
and for their focus on putting things right for TSB customers.”