Paul, who has more than 25 years experience in the banking sector, took up the reins after formal regulatory approval with a pledge to focus on personalised customer service.

With 33,000 members, Scottish Building Society is the world’s oldest mutual member-owned society, having celebrated its 170th birthday last year.

Paul, 48, was previously Managing Director of the UK’s largest Funeral Business, Co-op Funeralcare Operations, where he delivered transformational change across 1100 funeral homes.

He began his career with the Royal Bank of Scotland, graduating to head of trading for retail banking at RBS/NatWest.

Paul said:

I feel a great sense of excitement about returning to financial services and building on the solid foundations of Scottish Building Society.

I am proud to be working for a Scottish business for Scottish people – 99 per cent of our lending is in Scotland and we are as Scottish now as we were 170 years ago.

We have been known as a niche lender, with products such as our retirement only mortgages, but we do want to be out there on a broader basis, not to compete with the likes of RBS and Lloyds on price, but on trust authenticity and customer service.

Chairman Raymond Abbott, said:

After a rigorous recruitment process, we are pleased to welcome Paul to Scottish Building Society.

Paul will be an excellent asset and his knowledge and extensive skillset will mean he is able to build solid relationships with our stakeholders.

Father of four Paul lives in Fife and is passionate about sport, especially the fortunes of Scotland’s rugby team,  and has an extensive collection of programmes dating back to the 1920s.

The Society has raised its profile through sponsorship of the Scottish Women’s Premier League and has seen a fifth consecutive year of mortgage book growth with pre-tax profits ahead of plan to £1.03million.