NatWest has appointed Marieke Flament as chief executive of Mettle, the bank's new digital proposition for small businesses.

She will be leading the next phase of Mettle’s roll out as it becomes available in the Apple app store from August.

Launched last November, Mettle is specifically designed to make it easier for entrepreneurs and growing businesses to manage their finances, providing a platform to combine a current account with invoicing, payment chasing and bookkeeping.

Flament comes from Circle, where she was European managing director and global chief marketing officer. She commented: “With SMEs making up 99 per cent of all businesses in the UK, there is a huge opportunity for disruption in SME digital banking.

"Insight and feedback garnered during the pilot stage have shown that we are in a very strong position to capitalise on this opportunity through Mettle."

Alison Rose, deputy chief executive of NatWest and chief executive of commercial and private banking at RBS, said: “Digital banking is now rooted in everyday life for businesses in the UK, and we’re excited to be a part of this development with Mettle.

"I am thrilled that Marieke is joining Mettle to drive forward this mission and establish a leadership position in SME digital banking - she has a proven track record of breaking boundaries in the finance sector, and hands-on knowledge of adapting to a constantly evolving tech landscape and providing new innovative solutions to meet customers’ needs.”

Meanwhile, Bó, NatWest's other digital bank, has recruited the founder of Loot, Ollie Purdue, as its chief product officer, along with 17 of his former Loot colleagues.

Loot ran into funding difficulties earlier this year and received a £2 million investment from Bó, following an initial investment of £3 million in July 2018, taking the total shareholding to around 25 per cent.

Purdue and his team will reportedly be charged with running the startup bank's product development, branding and marketing, reporting to Bó chief executive Mark Baillie.

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