He takes up his role in September, replacing the current chief executive Mark Robinson who retires a month later.

Kirkpatrick is currently chief customer officer at Nottingham Building Society, where he has worked for just under two years.

He has held a variety of roles in finance, including challenger lender Metro Bank where he worked for four years, leaving as retail managing director in July 2019.

He also worked at Lloyds Private Banking for two-and-a-half years, leaving as a director in July 2015.

Robinson leaves the mutual after 15 years. Prior to that, he was executive and estate agency chair at the Cumberland Building Society, where he worked for six years, leaving in September 2007.

Kirkpatrick says that the society has “a clear focus on its members and the community. I believe that mutuality has never been more important than it is now”.

Market Harborough Building Society runs branches across Leicestershire and Northamptonshire and has more than £540m of assets, with over 27,000 savings members and 2,900 mortgage members.