±±¾©Èü³µpk10

Perks leaves his job as head of retail lending in mid-June to take up the newly-created role of business development director at Britannic.

His brief also covers sales, distribution and product development.

He will report to chief executive Tony Ward, who said the position had been created to take advantage of Britannic's ability to respond quicker to market changes than its bigger rivals.

At the same time, Ward said he had "beefed up the product design role by appointing internal marketer Patrick Maguire to head up a dedicated unit. Maguire reports to Perks, as does head of marketing Rachel Ramsden and head of sales Austin Jelfs.

Ramsden was appointed head of marketing in January following the exit of Matt Smith, who quit to join creative agency WPB as business development director. Britannic relaunched last year with its £1m sponsorship of US sitcom Frasier on Channel 4.