The ongoing IT crisis at TSB has claimed the scalp of TSB chief executive Paul Pester, who is leaving the bank after seven years at the helm.
Pester's departure comes just a day after TSB was forced to apologise yet again to customers who faced disruption to their online and mobile banking over the weekend.
It follows months of poor quality service and online downtime at the bank following a bungled upgrade to a new computer system from Spansish parent Banco Sabadell.
Pester came to be seen as the public face of the fiasco, hounded by politicians in Parliamentary hearings and criticised by the FCA for not being entirely transparent about the scale of the problems facing the bank.
In its interim results statement in July, TSB reported a whacking £107.4 million first half loss as the early costs of the disastrous IT migration began to emerge.
Richard Meddings, current non executive chairman of TSB, will take on the role of executive chairman until a new chief executive is appointed.
"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," says Meddings. "Paul and the Board have therefore agreed that this is the right time to appoint a new CEO for TSB.
"Together with the executive committee, we have three immediate priorities: to complete the work of putting things right for customers; to enable the bank to achieve full functionality - including the availability of all product services and launch of a leading business banking offer; and appointing a CEO for the next chapter of TSB."
Nicky Morgan, chair of the Parliamentary Treasury Select Committee pulled no punches in her assessment of Pester's legacy: "Since the IT problems at TSB began, Paul Pester set the tone for TSB’s complacent and misleading public communications. The Treasury Committee, therefore, concluded that it lost confidence in Dr Pester’s position as Chief Executive of TSB.
"But the Committee remains concerned about the continuing problems at TSB, including unacceptable delays in compensating customers who have been badly let down. It is to be hoped that Dr Pester’s successor is able to restore the confidence of the bank’s long-suffering customers."