Atom appoints Rebecca Cartwright as Chief Risk Officer

Atom has appointed Rebecca Cartwright as the bank’s new Chief Risk Officer, replacing Chris Sparks, who is retiring after almost 7 years at the app-based bank.

Rebecca joins Atom from Midlands-based Wesleyan Bank, where she was Chief Risk Officer for over three years. Prior to this, Rebecca spent three years as the Chief Risk Officer at The Melton Building Society, and she has held a number of compliance and risk roles, primarily within retail and consumer lending, working for Yorkshire Building Society and Capital One. Rebecca has also previously worked in Deloitte’s Risk and Regulation practice.

As part of her role, Rebecca will ensure that Atom maintains and further enhances the excellent risk-management culture that is already embedded across the business, utilising the pragmatic approach to handling risk and regulatory responsibilities that she has demonstrated throughout her career.

Rebecca is also a mentor for the ‘30% Club’, a business-led campaign which aims to boost female representation at board and C-Suite level in the world’s biggest companies and advance corporate leadership opportunities for all women.

Rebecca will work to safeguard Atom’s position as a progressive, innovative, and customer-centric business, as it continues to create a new model for banking in the UK.

Rebecca Cartwright, CRO at Atom, said:

“I have some big shoes to fill following the departure of Chris, but I’m delighted to be joining Atom at such an exciting time in its journey.

“Atom’s mission to change banking for good, for the better and for everyone, aligns with my values and is immensely important in a sector which is often unnecessarily complicated, confusing and has a reputation for treating customers unfairly.

“I am extremely excited by the company’s vision, and look forward to building on Atom’s already significant achievements.”

Mark Mullen, Chief Executive Officer at Atom, said:

“I would firstly like to thank Chris for playing such a key role in making Atom what it is today, and we all wish him a very happy retirement.

“I am delighted to welcome Rebecca to Atom. She brings extensive and varied experience within risk and compliance and will be an immensely valuable addition to our team.”

END

For more details journalists can contact:

For Lansons

Ed Hooper, edh@lansons.com 07783 387713
Ed Shelley, eds@lansons.com 07825 427522

For Atom

Robbie Steel, robbie.steel@atombank.co.uk 07538 775 701

About Atom bank

Atom bank launched operations in April 2016, offering market-leading Fixed Saver accounts and secured business lending for small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’), followed by its automated mobile mortgage proposition in December 2016. Atom launched an Instant Saver in September 2020. With a competitive rate, no short-term bonus, no limits on withdrawals and no minimum amount required at opening, the instant saver offers people much-needed flexibility while their cash works harder for them.

Atom is a mobile only and customer first bank. Based in the North East of England with a team of over 400 people, they’re here to do the right thing by their customers with outstanding levels of customer experience whilst taking the fight to the incumbents with exceptional levels of efficiency. At the heart of the bank is the app, with an award-winning customer support team on hand to help with any queries through phone, chat, email and social media.

Atom is an engaged and active part of the North East Community and in 2017 announced a four-year STEM partnership with the Prince’s Trust in North East England.

The Atom executive team are highly experienced, having built and run some of the most well-respected banks in the UK. CEO Mark Mullen has 30 years’ experience in the sector and was previously CEO at the multi- award-winning telephone and internet bank first direct. The team is supported by a strong non-exec board, chaired by Bridget Rosewell CBE.