He replaces Martin Rice who retires after five decades in the financial services industry, which was capped by him joining the Leicestershire-based mutual in 2013 as a non-executive director and becoming chair a year later.

Robinson was elected at the mutual’s meeting last week. He first joined the building society in 2020 as chair of the nominations committee and as a member of the audit committee and the remuneration committee.

Robinson had previously spent just over 10 years at Skipton Building Society, leaving as commercial director in 2019.

He says: “I believe that building societies have a very important place in helping individuals own their homes and offering savers security and returns, and Earl Shilton Building Society is a great example of this. I learned of its excellent reputation over a decade ago when I was chair of [audit firm] Mutual One, which provided Earl Shilton Building Society with compliance and internal audit support.”

Rice worked for 37 years in a variety of roles at Alliance & Leicester, now part of Santander UK. In a long career, he also spent two years at Barclays leaving as head of financial crime and money laundering reporting officer in 2011.

Earl Shilton Building Society chief executive Paul Tilley says: “We hope Martin enjoys his well-earned retirement indulging in his love of cars, photography, books, music and family. His presence and passion will be greatly missed, but we’re certain Alex is a worthy replacement to chair the Earl Shilton Building Society board.”

The business runs two branches in Leicestershire.