Alongside her background in banking, Murphy has spent the past seven years running her own wealth management startup, FSG.

At Recognise Bank, she will be charged with steering the business and spearheading future funding rounds. Launched in November 2020, the startup has so far raised a total of £65 million in successive rounds from City of London Group, the bank's parent company.

Murphy joins the bank after it recently hit a milestone of £100 million in lending and £95 million in deposits through its range of personal savings accounts and in April launched its first business savings accounts.

Phil Jenks, chair of the City of London Group, says: "Jean brings huge experience of banking and capital markets to this role, along with a vital entrepreneurial spirit gained from building her own successful company, which gives her an appreciation of the challenges that business owners face."

Murphy takes up the role after Jason Oakley, Recognise Bank's co-founder, stepped down in March 2022 and has led the bank from a fledgling idea to a fully authorised commercial lender and savings bank.

Her appointment follows the recent hire of former Deutsche Bank veteran Sahil Thapa as CTO, amid a change in the management structure of the startup, which entailed the creation of a COO role and a new directorate for banking platforms and partnerships.