Co-op hunting for yet another finance boss after Wood’s early exit

THE Co-op Bank is seeking its fourth finance boss in three years after the latest jumped ship only 11 months after taking on the task.

The institution said Tom Wood, its chief financial and restructuring officer, was standing down and would leave once a replacement was found.

Mr Wood took up the job last September, weeks after he helped seal a £700m takeover of the company by five US hedge funds. He replaced John Worth, who himself had only been in the role for a year. Mr Worth took over from John Baines, who had held the role for three years.

Co-op Bank, which was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of the Co-operative Group, said he was standing down after “significant progress” had been made restructuring the bank over the past year.

The move comes months after Co-op Bank named Andrew Bester, the former head of Lloyds Banking Group’s commercial unit, as its fifth chief executive in seven years.

“There is still much to be done as we seek to return to a position of sustainable profitability,” Mr Bester said yesterday.

Mr Wood said the bank had achieved some “key milestones ahead of schedule” such as derisking the balance sheet, reducing its pension liabilities and improving the capital position. It narrowed its losses to £174.4m for 2017.

The business, crippled by its disastrous takeover of building society Britannia in 2009, was bailed out by the group of hedge funds last year after a £1.5bn black hole was discovered on its balance sheet in 2013.

The crisis deepened when former Methodist minister Paul Flowers, the bank’s chairman at the time, was filmed handing over £300 for what was apparently crystal meth and cocaine, earning him the nickname “the Crystal Methodist”.