In September, Garner announced that he would depart from the firm after nearly six years in the role, and the mutual announced it was in the process of finding a predecessor.
She will be the mutual’s first female executive director and the selection process was led by Kevin Parry, deputy chairman and chairman elect.
Crosbie will take up her position in the first half of next year subject to regulatory approval and Garner will stay in his role as chief executive until then.
Crosbie is currently for chief executive for TSB, and prior to that spent nearly 22 years at Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, most recently as executive director and chief operating officer.
Parry said the board was delighted that Crosbie was joining the mutual and she had emerged as the “outstanding candidate” during the “thorough and rigorous selection”.
He said: “She brings significant banking experience combined with deep operational and technological knowledge – core skills that are needed to run a modern building society. She is a strong advocate of mutuality and supports Nationwide’s core purpose and the societal role it plays.
“I look forward to working with Debbie to continue to enhance the services we provide to our members.”
Crosbie said: “Nationwide’s mutual status, combined with its trusted brand and market-leading customer service, make it a purposeful and unique force for good. I’m delighted to be asked to lead the society in its next phase of growth and to work with its members and colleagues to make it the leading retail financial services provider in the UK.”
TSB’s Robin Bulloch to become interim CEO
According to TSB, during Crosbie’s tenure she led a “successful turnaround” of the company “delivering a strategy to transform customer experience, make the bank more competitive and increase colleague engagement”.
Robin Bulloch, who was previously chief customer officer, has been appointed as interim chief executive of TSB and will work with Crosbie on an “orderly handover”.
He has worked at TSB for just over two years and prior to that, worked at Lloyds Banking Group for around eight years. He has also held senior roles at RBS, Natwest and Tesco Personal Finance.
Nick Prettejohn, TSB chair, said: “We are grateful to Debbie for her outstanding contribution to TSB and wish her well for the future. She leaves TSB on a strong footing and I’m delighted that Robin Bulloch, who has significant retail banking experience at the highest level, has agreed to lead the business until such time as a permanent appointment is made.”
Bulloch added: “It’s a huge honour to be asked to lead TSB. It’s a wonderful business, with a talented, customer-focused team and it’s important we close out 2021 strongly and grasp the opportunities to do even more for our customers in 2022.”
