It is never encouraging for investors when, not even two months after listing, the chief executive needs to take off time because of exhaustion.
That was the news from Shawbrook last week. Barely a year into running the Essex-based business bank, Richard Pyman is stepping back for a while. Unsettlingly for Mr Pyman, Shawbrook’s shares rose after the announcement.
He will be replaced on an interim basis by Tom Wood, Shawbrook’s well-regarded finance director, who used to hold the same job at Skipton Building Society and was on the — ultimately unsuccessful — ticket of NBNK Investments, which wanted to buy TSB branches from Lloyds.
A top-notch chairman is also on his way in: Iain Cornish, former Yorkshire Building Society boss and more recently a