TSB has appointed the former executive Marc Armengol as its new chief executive as the bank faces uncertainty over its future, with its parent company facing a hostile $13bn (£10.2bn) takeover bid.
Armengol, a former strategy director at TSB who has served on the board since 2022, originally joined the UK bank’s Spanish owner Sabadell in 2002. He will take over as CEO at the start of 2025.
In May, the Spanish rival BBVA launched a $13bn hostile takeover of Sabadell after its board rejected a bid of the same value.
Earlier this week, the European Commission said it did not have any objections to the takeover of Sabadell – the Spanish lender that was created in 1881 by 127 families in Catalonia – after completing a foreign subsidies review.
However, the bid still faces a longer antitrust review by Spain’s competition watchdog, the CNMC, that could extend the process well into next year.
If the takeover is completed it raises questions over the future of Sabadell-owned subsidiaries such as TSB, which it acquired in 2015.
Armengol replaces Robin Bulloch, who has served as TSB’s chief executive since April 2022 and is retiring.
“Marc is a proven leader who knows TSB well,” said Nick Prettejohn, the chair of TSB. “Marc’s appointment will allow us to build further on the progress of recent years.”
Sabadell, which bought TSB for £1.7bn in 2015, reaffirmed its commitment to help TSB become a main contributor to improving the Spanish group’s profitability.
The Sabadell chief executive, César González-Bueno, said it would continue to see TSB’s “turnaround strategy in action” under Armengol.
TSB has had a relatively high turnover of chief executives in recent years.
Debbie Crosbie, who led the turnaround of the troubled bank at the turn of the decade, lasted just under three years.
She joined in May 2019 and announced her departure to join Nationwide as its first female chief executive in the building society’s 175-year history in December 2021.
In 2018, Paul Pester stepped down as chief executive after an IT meltdown that locked thousands of customers out of their accounts. He had held the role for seven years.
