Financial Appointments: West Brom; Tipton & Coseley; Wesleyan

THE West Bromwich Building Society has announced a senior appointment as it looks to progress to the next stage of its growth.

Ashraf Piranie will assume the position of the society’s Group Finance & Operations Director in April 2017 on the retirement of Mark Gibbard.

He is currently Deputy Chief Executive and Finance Director of Nottingham Building Society.

Mark Nicholls, chairman of the West Brom, said: “During his six years with the West Brom Mark Gibbard has been a driving force in restoring the society’s financial strength following the financial crisis of 2009.

“Finding a successor of the highest calibre to take the society into an exciting new phase of growth has been a paramount objective of the board.  I am therefore delighted that we have been able to achieve this with the appointment of Ashraf.”

The West Brom is the UK’s seventh largest building society with 450,000 members and 37 branches throughout the Black Country, Birmingham, Shropshire and mid-Wales.

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THE Tipton and Coseley Building Society has appointed a new operations executive, weeks after recruiting a new risk and compliance executive.

Sally Wrigglesworth (pictured) will be responsible for running the lending, operations and processing of the Society’s mortgages, as well as overseeing the branch network and training functions.
 
Miss Wrigglesworth’s experience in the financial services industry spans more than three decades. She started her career at Lloyds Bank and worked in both retail, commercial and corporate banking. She moved to Nationwide Building Society where her senior executive positions included Head of Insurance, Banking & Savings and Communications. She’s also worked at the Coventry Building Society and more recently, has undertaken interim operations director roles for a number of financial services companies.
 
Richard Newton, the Tipton’s chief executive (pictured), said: “I’m delighted to welcome Sally to the team and I know the society will benefit from her depth of industry knowledge and experience.”

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FINANCIAL mutual Wesleyan has welcomed the latest group of apprentices to its Birmingham head office.
 
Orlagh Callaghan, James Jones-Cross, Missy Madden and Jazz Randhawa join Wesleyan on an 18-month apprenticeship scheme, progressing towards an NVQ Level 2, with support from Birmingham Metropolitan College.
 
Vicki Wentworth, Chief Customer and Strategy Officer at Wesleyan, said: “Over the past seven years we have welcomed almost 60 apprentices onto our award winning scheme, working in departments across the business, including General Insurance, Sales Support and the Support Relationship Centre.
 
“Becoming an apprentice provides an alternative route for those wanting to enter the financial services sector. It’s also an opportunity for us to nurture our own talent, and nearly all of those that have joined us since 2010 are still with us and building successful careers around the group. I look forward to seeing this latest group develop.”

Pictured from left are: Missy Madden, Jazz Randhawa, James Jones-Cross and Orlagh Callaghan.