Boardroom reshuffle goes on at Leeds with new FD

Robin Litten, former chief commercial officer of Skipton Building Society, will join the UK’s fifth largest building society as finance director in January.

He joins the board, which now consists of three executive directors and eight non-executive directors, under the leadership of chairman Robin Smith.

Mr Litten, 48, is a qualified accountant and has a degree in business studies. He has spent his career in retail and financial services.

His previous roles include deputy finance director at Barclaycard, finance director at Barclays Private Banking, group finance director and then chief executive at Scarborough Building Society.

Mr Litten said: “I am delighted to be joining Leeds Building Society as finance director.

“Leeds Building Society is a successful, independent member owned business, with a strong well-capitalised balance sheet and excellent management team.

“I look forward to using my experience to add value to the members and staff of this long established and successful organisation.”

Chief executive Peter Hill added: “This is an excellent appointment and I am delighted to welcome Robin to the society.

“He has a wealth of success in financial services and his skill and expertise will help us to build on our financial strength, develop our products and services further and enable us to continue to deliver outstanding results.”

Mr Litten’s arrival follows the appointment of Mr Hill in August. Mr Hill, former operations director, replaced chief executive Ian Ward, who retired after almost 16 years in the role.

Mr Hill is only the seventh chief executive of the 136-year-old mutual.

In the first six months of the year, Leeds grew pre-tax profits by 49 per cent to £26.9m

Its new lending increased by 61 per cent to £642m from £400m a year earlier – with a quarter of this extended to first-time buyers.

It also attracted more savers, helping grow its deposit balances by £127m to a record level of £7.15bn. The lender also gained another 21,000 new members and now has over 685,000 members.

The lender grew to almost four times its size under Mr Ward. Total assets at the end of June were flat on 2010 at £9.5bn.

The building society’s core tier one capital ratio – a key measure of financial strength – increased to 13.8 per cent at the end of June from 12 per cent a year ago.

Mr Litten replaces David Pickersgill, who was finance director and deputy chief executive.

Mr Pickersgill retired at the end of June after almost 25 years’ service, following a long spell of poor health.