MPs have pushed for TSB chief executive Paul Pester to quit over his handling of the bank’s recent IT meltdown.
Earlier this week the Treasury select committee advised the bank’s board to give“serious consideration as to whether his position was sustainable”, adding that his comments at the time had been “complacent and misleading”.
The comments were made in a letter from Nicky Morgan, the committee’s chair, to TSB chair Richard Meddings. However, the bank’s board said Pester had their complete support, despite consistent calls for him to step down.
TSB suffered a major IT meltdown six weeks ago, with some customers still facing disruption. Fraudsters also took advantage of the problems, stealing money from teh accounts of 1300 customers.
In her letter, Nicky Morgan said: “This tone has been set from the top – by Paul Pester – and whether intentionally or not he has not been straight with the committee and TSB customers. Dr Pester’s statements that “everything is running smoothly for the vast majority of our … customers” and that “there will be no barriers” to customers switching accounts, and his denial that there were problems on TSB’s fraud reporting line, are all examples of this.
“The Treasury committee, therefore, has lost confidence in Dr Pester’s position as chief executive of TSB, and considers that the TSB board should give serious consideration as to whether his position is sustainable.”
The bank’s response underlined their confidence in Pester’s leadership, saying that the improvements had been made “under the leadership of Paul Pester, who continues to have the full support of the TSB board.”
