Atom has appointed Rebecca Cartwright as the bank’s new Chief Risk Officer, replacing Chris Sparks, who is retiring after almost 7 years at the app-based bank.

Rebecca joins Atom from Midlands-based Wesleyan Bank, where she was Chief Risk Officer for over three years. Prior to this, Rebecca spent three years as the Chief Risk Officer at The Melton Building Society, and she has held a number of compliance and risk roles, primarily within retail and consumer lending, working for Yorkshire Building Society and Capital One. Rebecca has also previously worked in Deloitte’s Risk and Regulation practice.

As part of her role, Rebecca will ensure that Atom maintains and further enhances the excellent risk-management culture that is already embedded across the business, utilising the pragmatic approach to handling risk and regulatory responsibilities that she has demonstrated throughout her career.

Rebecca is also a mentor for the ‘30% Club’, a business-led campaign which aims to boost female representation at the board and C-Suite level in the world’s biggest companies and advance corporate leadership opportunities for all women.

Rebecca will work to safeguard Atom’s position as a progressive, innovative, and customer-centric business, as it continues to create a new model for banking in the UK.

Rebecca Cartwright, CRO at Atom, said: “I have some big shoes to fill following the departure of Chris, but I'm delighted to be joining Atom at such an exciting time in its journey. 

“Atom’s mission to change banking for good, for the better and for everyone, aligns with my values and is immensely important in a sector which is often unnecessarily complicated, confusing and has a reputation for treating customers unfairly. 

“I am extremely excited by the company’s vision, and look forward to building on Atom’s already significant achievements.”

Mark Mullen, Chief Executive Officer at Atom, said: “I would firstly like to thank Chris for playing such a key role in making Atom what it is today, and we all wish him a very happy retirement. 

“I am delighted to welcome Rebecca to Atom. She brings extensive and varied experience within risk and compliance and will be an immensely valuable addition to our team.”