New challenger and first ‘digital-only’ bank Atom has strengthened its core management team with two senior hires.

Edward Twiddy, currently director of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), will join as chief innovation officer, bringing with him Sophie Haagensen, who is deputy director of the same organisation.

It was announced last week that Atom Bank, which will be based in the north-east of England, was planning to open its doors in the first half of 2015. It will offer personal and business customers a full range of products through the internet and mobile apps only.

The bank is being set up by Anthony Thomson, founder and the first chairman of Metro Bank and Mark Mullen, former CEO of First Direct.

Twiddy has been brought onboard to be “the driving force behind innovation and operations”. Prior to his role at North East LEP, he held major spending, tax and regulation roles at The Treasury, in addition to a period in the resolution team that stabilised Northern Rock and some of the early victims of the financial crisis.

Twiddy was also involved in the financing of Crossrail and responsible for some of the largest spending changes at the time of the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review.

Haagensen joined the LEP from the Department for Work and Pensions, where she led a strategy team responsible for providing advice to government ministers on the viability of new policy proposals. She also advised on the digitalisation of services and managed a major organisational restructure to deliver digital transformation.

Commenting on the new appointments, Anthony Thomson, chairman of Atom Bank, said: “Edward’s involvement is a huge coup for Atom and we are delighted to have him on board. As the UK’s first truly digital bank, innovation will be at the heart of everything we do. We believe Edward will be the perfect person to drive this with his years of experience and tremendous range of skills and expertise. He has done a brilliant job in supporting northern businesses and I know that he will continue to champion local businesses in his new role at Atom.

“Sophie has also been very active in the north-east as deputy director and she brings additional complementary skills to the Atom team.”

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