Stewart takes up his post on 1 January, replacing current chairman Gerald Gregory, who leaves the lender after nine years on the board. Stewart is currently the senior independent director at the lender, and has been a non-executive director since 2020.
Belfast-based Danske Bank UK is part of Denmark’s Danske Bank Group, which is one of the largest financial services companies in Scandinavia.
The UK business launched a carbon-neutral mortgage in Northern Ireland last June, the first of its kind to be certified by the Carbon Trust, and entered the rest of the UK market with the product in January.
Stewart holds a number of non-executive roles, including at Coventry Building Society, where he is chair of the board’s risk committee, and business bank OakNorth, where he is an advisory board member. He is also a visiting professor at the London Institute of Banking & Finance.
Stewart was director of banks, building societies & credit unions at the Bank of England for five-and-a-half years, leaving in August 2018. Prior to that, he was head of UK banks & mutuals at the Financial Services Authority for three years, leaving in March 2013.
Danske Bank UK chief executive Vicky Davies, thanked Gregory “for his tremendous leadership over the past decade”, which included “unprecedented levels of change across the industry, rising regulatory demands, increased competition, Brexit and the pandemic”.
She adds that she is looking forward to working with Stewart who “is a well-known and respected figure in the UK financial services sector”.
Stewart says that he takes over at “a time of economic uncertainty and at Danske Bank we remain focused on supporting customers through what will be increasingly tough months ahead”.
He adds that the lender will “consolidate our leading position in Northern Ireland while pursuing opportunities in the rest of the UK.”
Stewart takes over the top spot at the bank at a time when inflation surged to 10.1% in September, the fastest rate in 42 years, from 9.9% in August. Also, the Bank of England raised the interest rate by 50 basis points to 2.25% last month, the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, and the seventh rise in a row since last December.
