Leadership
Here you’ll find information on all our Board members, their roles within the Group and Vanquis Bank.
Our Board is responsible for overseeing our Group’s strategic direction. It is accountable for Vanquis Banking Group’s activities and is committed to delivering the highest standard of corporate governance.
Sir Peter Estlin
Chairman
Bio
Appointed as Chairman: 15 September 2023
Joined the Board: 19 April 2023
Tenure: 2 years
Career and experience
Peter is a senior finance professional with a 35-year career in banking and finance with PwC, Citigroup and Barclays. Peter was knighted in 2020 for his services to international business, skills and inclusion. He also served as the 691st Lord Mayor of the City of London from 2018 to 2019 and has been an Alderman for the City since 2013. Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand in 1993, where he later became a Partner, he held the role of CFO for the Asia Pacific and, latterly, the Global Corporate and Investment Bank businesses at Citigroup. From 2008 Peter held senior roles at Barclays plc including Group Financial Controller, CFO of the Retail and Business banking division and acting Group CFO.
Peter’s contribution to the Board, key strengths, skills and reasons for re-election
Peter is a commercially and strategically astute CFO and non-executive director who brings both breadth and depth of banking experience, including retail banking, and is an experienced chairman.
- A strong leader with significant finance and accounting experience gained in professional services and banking, further complemented by expertise across systems management, financial reporting and accounting, investor relations, treasury management, and mergers and acquisitions.
- Extensive governance experience, across the private, public and charitable sectors.
- Wealth of knowledge of the financial markets and experience of implementing strategy and delivering significant corporate transactions, and transformation projects.
Current external appointments
- Non-executive director of NM Rothschild Ltd, Supervisory Board member at Rothschild WAM Co and Rothschild & Co and of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE).
- Chair of FutureDotNow and Association of Apprentices.
- Trustee at Ironmongers Trust Company.
- Alderman for City of London Corporation.
- Director at Revolut Newco UK Ltd.
Ian McLaughlin
Chief Executive Officer
Bio
Appointed: 1 August 2023
Tenure: 1 year
Career and experience
Ian has extensive banking experience across mortgages, wealth management, savings, insurance and motor finance. From 2019, Ian was the CEO of Bank of Ireland (UK) Plc. He has served as a non-executive director on bank and technology company boards and from 2012, held senior retail banking roles at Royal Bank of Scotland (now NatWest Group) including developing specialist consumer and commercial financial services propositions.
Ian’s contribution to the Board, key strengths, skills and reasons for re-election
Ian is a highly experienced chief executive officer and board director with extensive experience in banking and investment management. He has a strong track record of delivering growth through improving customer service and enhancing distribution volumes and channels.
- A deep knowledge of the financial services industry and regulatory environment.
- Experience in managing complex transformation programmes, providing clarity on strategy, purpose and culture, whilst overseeing successful operational delivery.
- Delivering market leading customer propositions that provide excellent customer outcomes.
- Leading brand, product and proposition development.
- Non-executive director experience.
Current external appointments
- UK Finance Limited.
Michele Greene
Snr Independent Non-Executive Director
Bio
Appointed: 9 March 2023
Tenure: 2 years
Career and experience
Michele is a highly experienced finance professional at executive and board level. She has held senior roles at Virgin Money and MBNA Europe Bank and, prior to that, she worked across various finance functions at Goldman Sachs, Credit Lyonnais and KPMG Dublin. At Virgin Money, Michele was Director of Strategic Development, where she was responsible for establishing a credit card business on a newly built IT platform and was subsequently appointed as the Managing Director of the Virgin Money Digital Bank. In 2018 Michele co-founded Mololo Limited, a boutique advisory company specialising in helping companies in the payments and unsecured lending space.
Michele’s contribution to the Board, key strengths, skills and reasons for re-election
Michele has over 25 years’ experience of financial services and retail banking, particularly in the areas of payments and digital innovation. Michele has built significant experience in the development and growth of successful banking businesses.
- Chartered Accountant and experienced business executive and finance professional with a strong track record as a CFO and MD.
- Deep knowledge within the consumer credit, card payments and digital banking sector.
- Proven ability to build effective working relationships with key stakeholders, including regulators, investors and analysts.
- Non-executive director and chair experience.
Current external appointments
- Executive Director and co-founder of Mololo Limited.
- Non-executive director of Bank of Ireland Group plc, J&E Davy Unlimited and, East End Fair Finance Limited.
Dave Watts
Chief Financial Officer
Bio
Appointed: 1 November 2023
Tenure: 1 year
Career and experience
Dave is a highly experienced banking CFO who worked for HSBC for nearly 30 years in a variety of roles at the global, regional and business levels. He notably was part of the team that established the UK ring fence bank of HSBC and was subsequently the CFO and an Executive Director of HSBC UK Bank plc from 2017-2021. Most recently, Dave served as CFO and Executive Director of HSBC Bank plc, which managed HSBC’s business in Europe (ex. UK). Between 2015 and 2018, he was the CFO of HSBC Bank plc. Dave’s prior roles were outside of personal banking and wealth, including global CFO roles for commercial banking, global banking, operations and technology. Dave qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and is a qualified treasurer.
Dave’s contribution to the Board, key strengths, skills and reasons for election
With over 35 years of financial services experience, Dave has a proven track record of executing strategy and delivering on significant challenging multi-year transformations and projects.
- A highly experienced finance leader with extensive banking experience.
- A strong treasury background with experience in challenging liquidity, funding and capital matters, in entities with differing regulatory requirements.
- A proven track record of enhancing engagement and relationships with various external stakeholders, including regulators.
- A strong cost management capability having led numerous cost management and reporting initiatives.
- Non-executive director experience.
Current External Appointments
- Non-executive Director at CAF Bank.
Graham Lindsay
Independent Non-Executive Director
Bio
Appointed: 1 April 2019
Tenure: 6 years
Career and experience
Graham held a number of senior executive roles at Lloyds Banking Group over a 40-year period, including responsibility for the Lloyds branch network, HR Director of the Retail Bank and as Group Responsible Business Director. Graham joined the Wonga UK board in 2016 as part of the new leadership team engaged to improve the business and deliver change following regulatory approval.
Graham has been a Board member of the Institute of Banking & Financial Services and sat on the Professional Standards Board. He is Senior Independent Director at One Family, a Trustee of Break Charity and an Emeritus Trustee of The Brain Tumour Charity.
Graham’s contribution to the Board, key strengths, skills and reasons for re-election
Graham brings to the Board extensive experience in commercial, private and retail banking and a deep understanding across all distribution channels. Graham has had demonstrable success in focusing organisations on their customers, ensuring they are at the heart of decision making and product design. Graham also has a strong appreciation of the Group’s regulatory environment.
- Extensive customer knowledge, strong customer focus and a track record of enabling and overseeing businesses to ensure that they put the customer at the heart of what they do.
- Significant stakeholder engagement experience.
Current external appointments
- Senior Independent Director at OneFamily and Chair of the Pension Trustee Board.
- Trustee of Break Charity.
- Emeritus Trustee of The Brain Tumour Charity.
- Director at Family Assurance Staff Pension Scheme Trustees Ltd.
Karen Briggs
Independent Non-Executive Director
Bio
Appointed: 27 March 2024
Tenure: 1 year
Career and experience
Karen is a qualified accountant with over 30 years’ experience, having held many senior leadership roles at KPMG UK, including as Head of Risk Consulting and Head of Tax, Pensions and Legal Services. Throughout her career she has had a focus on financial services, AI, big data and technology. She was a Board member for K Capital, KPMG’s £100m global technology investment fund, where she led the development and management of up to £100m of AI, cyber, data and other solutions. In 2020 she led the Forensic & Litigation Consulting and Technology practices of FTI in EMEA and focused on strategic leadership to drive transformational growth.
Karen’s contribution to the Board, key strengths, skills and reasons for re-election
In addition to her financial services expertise, Karen has also been a senior banking regulator and worked on the highest profile banking investigations globally. Karen is a highly experienced leader focused on leading complex global regulatory, forensic and financial crime assignments for financial institutions, other regulated entities and regulators.
- Extensive experience of working with audit committees, and familiarity with accounting and assurance.
- Brings extensive experience of designing, implementing and overseeing large scale remediation programmes across a variety of sectors covering risk, assurance, compliance, conduct, regulation, and data/technology.
- Non-executive director experience.
Current external appointments
- Chair of Audit & Risk Committee and Independent Council Member of Imperial College London.
- Non-executive director and Trustee of Invictus Games Foundation Board.
- Advisory Council Member for Elevate City, a women’s leadership network.
- Chair of Audit Committee and non-executive director of SMBC Bank International plc and Happold LLP.
- Chair of Audit & Risk Committee and non-executive director of Chubb Underwriting Agencies Limited.
- Non-executive director of Chubb European Group SE.
- Senior Strategic Advisor to Eversheds International LLP/Konexo through Karen Briggs Limited.
Oliver Laird
Independent Non-Executive Director
Bio
Appointed: 27 March 2024
Tenure: 1 year
Career and experience
Oliver is a highly experienced board level chief finance officer and non-executive director with extensive finance and regulatory experience in financial services, manufacturing and consultancy having been CFO at Lookers plc (£4bn revenue car retailer, 6,500 employees), CFO at First Direct, director of central finance at Lloyds Banking Group and finance director of Co-op Insurance. He has held non-executive director and audit committee chair roles across a range of sectors.
Oliver’s contribution to the Board, key strengths, skills and reasons for re-election
Oliver is financially literate and will be able to confirm the integrity of internal controls and financial reporting and determine how risk will be evaluated, calibrated, and managed. He displays an engaging leadership style with effective communication skills and is objective and independently minded, prepared both to challenge and support management yet still be a team player.
- A highly experienced finance leader with extensive banking experience.
- A strong CFO background with experience in financial analysis and planning, statutory regulatory reporting, investment and capital structure decisions, and group tax and treasury management.
- A commercially focused executive with a proven track record of building businesses and delivering strategic change and improvements that drive uplifts in profits, increases in shareholder value and improvements in the control environment.
- Non-executive director experience.
Current external appointments
- Chair of Audit Committee and Board member of Beverley Building Society.
- Non-executive director and Audit Committee Chair of the Shepherds Friendly Society.
- Non-executive director and Audit Committee Chair of the UK Board of Paysafe Limited.
Jackie Noakes
Independent Non-Executive Director
Bio
Appointed: 27 March 2024
Tenure: 1 year
Career and experience
Jackie is a senior leader with extensive experience in large scale business and technology transformation across banking and insurance. She has significant executive experience at board level having performed roles as CEO, chief operating officer, and CIO. Jackie has non-executive experience in mutual and listed plc businesses. In September 2018 she joined the Bank of Ireland as Group Chief Operating Officer and played a key role in delivering bank-wide transformation. This included enhancements to the group’s information security management and cyber risk protection measures. Jackie held several roles at Legal & General including leading the company’s £105bn savings business.
Jackie’s contribution to the Board, key strengths, skills and reasons for re-election
Jackie works at executive level to lead, shape and deliver strategic business change, undertaking the management of acquisitions and divestments as well as designing and implementing enterprise-wide transformation and regulatory compliance.
- A strong customer focus, leveraging data and insights to drive continuously improved experiences and customer journeys.
- Has specific skills and experience across payments, technology, operations, information security, and strategic data transformation.
- Extensive experience in financial services and a strong track record in delivering on business transformation.
- Non-executive director experience.
Current external appointments
- Director at SLFC Services Company (UK) Limited.
- Director at The Scottish Mutual Assurance Society.
- Director at Pearl Group Services Limited.
- Director at PGMS (Glasgow) Limited and PGS 2 Limited.
- Director at Reassure UK Services Limited.
- Group Chief Operating Officer of the Phoenix Group.