Danske Bank UK appoints Martin Stewart as new board chair
Danske Bank UK, known as Northern Bank, has appointed Martin Stewart as its new chair, set to take up the role on 1 January 2023.
Danske Bank’s Martin Stewart and Vicky Davies
Stewart has been a non-executive director at the Northern Irish bank since 2020 and is currently the board’s senior independent director. He has two decades’ worth of board-level experience as an executive, non-executive, advisor and regulator.
Stewart will replace current chair Gerald Gregory, who will leave the bank after nine years on the board.
Danske Bank CEO Vicky Davies thanked Gregory for navigating the bank through uncertain times, including “unprecedented levels of change across the industry, rising regulatory demands, increased competition, Brexit and the pandemic.”
On the bank’s new chair, Davies says Stewart is “a well-known and respected figure in the UK financial services sector”.
Stewart has held senior positions at the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and at UK regulator Financial Services Authority (FSA), precursors to the current regulatory body the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, Stewart was a “key influencer”, Danske Bank says, on global financial services policy development. At the PRA, he oversaw Northern Irish banks, building societies and credit unions.
Speaking on his new appointment, and the new challenges the bank is facing, Stewart says: “It is a time of economic uncertainty and at Danske Bank we remain focused on supporting customers through what will be increasingly tough months ahead.”
Headquartered in Belfast, the bank is part of the Danske Bank Group, one of the largest financial services companies in Scandinavia, and introduced the UK’s first carbon neutral mortgage last year.
