TSB has announced the appointment of a new chief operating officer (COO) and customer banking director as the challenger bank seeks to reset its direction in the wake of a series of major IT failures.

The board shakeup comes after Debbie Crosbie took up the reins as chief executive following the departure of Paul Pester, who stood down in September last year after a botched IT migration in April that repeatedly left thousands of customers without access to online banking services.

Robin Bulloch, formerly a managing director, community banking at Lloyds, will join TSB as customer banking director with responsibility for transforming the TSB customer experience and leading TSB’s services across all channels including branch, mobile and online.

In addition, Suresh Viswanathan, who been appointed chief operating officer and will drive the development of all systems, infrastructure and operations across TSB. Viswanathan has recently led operations and technology at Barclays as part of an 11 year stint at the lender following a 20 year career at Citi Group, working across a range of technology roles.

The pair will work alongside Liz Ashford, who was recently appointed TSB human resources director. All three appointments are subject to formal regulatory approval.

Commenting on the appointments, Crosbie said: “These three appointments are a significant step forward in the next chapter for TSB. They will help to put a much clearer focus on our customers and on improving the TSB experience, as we accelerate our plans to transform and improve TSB.

She added: “I’m delighted that they have agreed to join TSB at such a dynamic time in retail banking and they share our belief on what TSB can achieve.”

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