Independent Bank Director — Conduct and Customer Outcomes

Look from the customer's side

Review how management identifies target customers, communicates material terms and tests whether products meet the needs for which they are offered. Examine distribution incentives, exceptions and the treatment of customers facing difficulty. Ask whether complaints and service data are interpreted as signals of systemic issues rather than isolated operational events.

A director able to weigh competing evidence

Applicants should have substantial banking leadership, conduct-risk, retail or commercial customer-governance experience. They need strong judgement about financial products and the practical incentives within distribution and service organisations. Experience of challenging a product strategy or leading systemic remediation is particularly relevant.

Candidates should be able to discuss competing commercial and customer considerations without treating them as inevitably opposed. Financial literacy and the ability to interpret imperfect evidence are essential.

Patterns hidden by averages

Challenge reliance on averages that conceal poor outcomes for particular customer groups. Assess how digital journeys, assisted channels and third-party distribution affect understanding and access. Require clear ownership when product, sales and operations each control part of the experience but no one is accountable for the whole.

Root-cause change and collective accountability

The director should ensure that remediation proposals address root causes, not only compensation or closure of cases. Board reporting must distinguish completed activity from evidence that customer outcomes have improved.

The appointment includes collective board duties and engagement with relevant committees. The director will not manage complaints or approve individual customer remedies, but must ensure that recurring issues lead to a meaningful examination of causes and accountability.

The director will help the board ask better questions, challenge material weaknesses and follow the effectiveness of corrective action. Management remains responsible for product and service execution. Appointment-specific independence, eligibility and approvals apply. Success is a governance process that notices harmful patterns early, understands why they occur and requires credible change, rather than accepting high sales or low reported complaint volumes as proof that the customer proposition is sound.