A Metro Bank branch
(Picture: PA)High street lender Metro Bank has appointed James Hopkinson as chief financial officer (CFO) and executive director.
He will take up the post from 5 September subject to regulatory approval.
Daniel Frumkin, CEO of Metro Bank, said: “James brings a wealth of experience in retail banking with a proven track record of growing businesses and managing finance teams. He shares our vision for Metro Bank to become the UK’s best community bank and he will be a valuable addition to the board and executive committee.”
Hopkinson joins from ClearBank where he has been CFO since 2019 and board member since 2020.
Previously, he spent almost 20 years at Standard Chartered, where he held a variety of roles including CFO for regions and clients, CFO for global retail banking and global head of investor relations. Hopkinson is a chartered accountant and began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
He said: “Metro Bank is the stand-out consumer champion in retail banking. The progress made on the turnaround plan to date has been impressive and I look forward to helping take the Bank into its next phase of growth and towards sustainable profitability.”
At the end of last year, Metro Bank was hit with a £5.38 million fine from the Bank of England. It had mis-reported the value of its commercial loan portfolio, an error that once identified saw the shares crash, and later led to the departure of CEO Craig Donaldson after a decade in charge.
