SIR George Mathewson has stepped down as chairman of challenger bank Shawbrook Group and is being replaced by the former boss of Yorkshire Building Society.

The 75-year-old Sir George, previously Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive and chairman, has been with Shawbrook since its formation in 2011 but said when it listed on the London Stock Exchange in April this year he would resign when a suitable replacement was found.

Iain Cornish had emerged as a front runner to take on the chairman role and has now been confirmed in the post.

As well as 19 years with Yorkshire Building Society Mr Cornish was a founding member of the Prudential Regulation Authority board and has non-executive positions at Arrow Global Group and St James's Place.

Robin Ashton, senior independent director at Shawbrook, said: "We are delighted that Iain is joining the Board as Chairman, as he brings a wealth of experience and industry knowledge. "We look forward to his contribution as Shawbrook continues its journey as a public company.

"We would also like to publicly acknowledge Sir George's contribution to the founding and growth of Shawbrook over the past four years."

Sir George still has around 928,000 shares in Shawbrook which are worth in the region of £3.5 million at current prices.

The business floated at a price of 290 pence per share but has been trading at more than 370p in recent sessions.