The mutual says Kawar has been confirmed in the post following approval by financial regulators. She joined the business in January to lead its risk and compliance department.

Kawar strengthened the lender’s risk management capabilities, the firm says, including overseeing its involvement this year in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Against Scams Partnership — a partnership of public, private and voluntary sector groups working to stop scams and doorstep crime across the county.

She replaces Victoria Stubbs who left the firm after eight years last November to become chief risk officer at UK-based digital bank Revolut.

Cambridge Building Society chief executive Peter Burrows says: “Kawar brings a unique combination of strong technical capability combined with a mutual ethos and culture. I am confident she will make a real difference to our risk management capability, to the benefit of the society and all its members.”

Kawar joins the mutual from C. Hoare and Co, where she was head of risk, leaving after just under three years in January.

Prior to that, she worked at asset manager M&G for four years in a variety of roles, leaving as business manager to the chief operating officer in May 2019.

The finance executive began her career at the Bank of England in 2004, where she worked as an economist for just under six years.