Paul Pester

Paul David Pester (born 14 January 1964) is a British businessman and executive. He is currently the Chairman of Tandem Bank. Pester is also a non-executive Director and co-founder of FinTech accelerator, Archie. He was chief executive officer (CEO) of TSB Bank from 2013 to 2018.

Early life Pester grew up in Plymouth. He was educated at Tamar High School, Plymouth. He has a first class honours degree in physics from the University of Manchester, and a doctorate (DPhil) in mathematical physics from Brasenose College, University of Oxford in 1988.

Career Pester was employed by McKinsey & Co as a management consultant, before being appointed Group CEO of Virgin Money. During Pester's tenure as CEO, Virgin Money Group launched in Australia. He then began working in various senior roles for Lloyds TSB, Santander and Lloyds Banking Group.

In May 2011, Pester was appointed as the CEO of Project Verde and tasked with overseeing the divestment of 632 bank branches into a new bank in order to comply with a ruling of the European Commission. The divestment was required as a result of Lloyds TSB having received state aid from the British government during the 2008 financial crisis. The new bank was eventually named TSB.

Pester was appointed in 2013 to launch TSB for the Lloyds Banking Group and, in June 2014, led the listing of the bank's shares on the London Stock Exchange. During this time, the BBC reported that he could earn more than £1.6 million that year in pay and bonuses. He stepped down after a significant IT failure at the bank, which he took responsibility for. On stepping down, Pester took a substantial bonus. This was eventually found to be a ‘contractual severance pay agreement’ .

In October 2015, Pester was appointed as an advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and HM Treasury on competition issues in banking, sitting as a member of the High Level Treasury Advisory Group.

In 2020, Pester was appointed chair of the Fairer Finance Consumer Advisory Board. Pester co-founded Loop, a money-sharing social networking app, in 2021. Between 2022 and 2025, he was chairman of Tandem Money in 2022, during which period Tandem acquired Loop in April 2023. He has also advised private equity groups including KKR, Centerbridge, and Pollen Street Capital (the ultimate controller of Tandem).

In 2023, Pester co-founded the Fintech accelerator Archie.

Personal life Pester lives in London with his second wife, having divorced in 2015 and remarried in 2017.