Abrahams will remain with the business as head of finance and an executive director of Clydesdale Bank until 15 December, the lender said in a stock market statement.

He joined the group almost four years ago.

It adds that the move will “ensure a smooth transition” to Gergely Zaborszky, who will become an executive director and assume the role of chief financial officer, subject to regulatory approval.

Virgin Money board chair David Bennett said: “In his time at Virgin Money Clifford has been instrumental in driving strategic change at the organisation and has brought discipline and focus to the finance function.”

The change of post comes after Nationwide sealed the £2.9bn acquisition of Virgin Money on 1 October, which creates the country’s second-largest mortgage lender.

It has been announced that Virgin Money chief executive David Duffy will step down and will be replaced by Chris Rhodes, who was the building society’s chief finance officer.

Nationwide plans to terminate the Virgin brand after four years and will rebrand the bank over the following two years.

The move is one of several key stages of the merger since it was announced in the spring.

In July, the Competition and Markets Authority cleared the merger between the two lenders.

The regulator said, “the merger does not give rise to a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition” across residential and landlord mortgages, as well as their credit card businesses.

In May, Virgin Money shareholders voted by an 89% majority to accept the mutual’s takeover offer. Nationwide members do not have a vote on the deal.

The surprise deal, announced in March, saw Nationwide offer Virgin Money shareholders 218p in cash and a 2p dividend to be paid in this financial year, or, if earlier, shortly before the completion of the takeover.

The offer was a 38% premium to Virgin Money’s 159.1p closing price of pence on 6 March, the day before the deal was announced.