Banking Professionalism 360

Paul Denton has over 35 years 'experience in financial services. He has held a number of senior roles at RBS, NatWest and Co-operative Bank and has been the Chief Executive of Scottish Building Society since 2019.

He joined the Institute as a member in 1988 completing the professional qualifications of the time (Associate / Members).

Paul is proud to have been a Chartered Banker since its launch in 2000, a Fellow since 2004 and a Trustee since 2021.

He also has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and a BA (Hons) from Abertay University.

Paul is a member of the FCA Small Business Practitioner Panel, a member of UK Finance Mortgage Board and a Pension Trustee for the Building Societies Association.

With over 38 years of experience in financial services, John Last has dedicated his career to driving organizational excellence and shaping leadership cultures across global markets. Throughout his tenure, he has held senior executive positions at some of the world’s most prominent financial institutions, including Coutts & Co, NatWest, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and HSBC.

Currently serving as the Group Head of Leadership at HSBC, John focuses on cultivating high-performance environments and developing the next generation of strategic leaders for an AI era. His approach blends deep industry expertise with a commitment to continuous learning and evidence-based organizational development.

Beyond his corporate responsibilities, John is deeply engaged in the professional advancement of the industry. He currently serves as the Chair of the Chartered Banker Institute. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (FCIPD), a Fellow and Chartered Banker (FCBI), and a Chartered Manager (CMgr CCMI). As a Certified Bank Board Director and an Executive Coach (MSc, PCC), he leverages his academic background - which includes a Master’s degree from Henley Business School in Coaching & Behavioural Change - to guide boards and executives through complex transformations. He is currently pursuing a professional doctorate with a focus on how leaders can create sustainable organisational value that transcends individual performance.

Tanya Retter is the Chief Executive of the Chartered Banker Institute. Joining the Institute in 2023, Tanya has played a pivotal role in shaping and delivering the Institute’s current strategic vision. Tanya now leads the Institute’s efforts to raise professional standards across the banking sector, ensuring that education, ethics, and lifelong learning remain at the heart of a responsible and future-ready profession. 

With over two decades of experience in financial services, Tanya brings deep expertise in leadership development, digital transformation, and customer and employee experience – skills developed during her time in senior roles at NatWest and RBS. She is instrumental in driving the Institute’s global education strategy, overseeing the design and delivery of qualifications and professional development programmes that support the evolving needs of banks, regulators, and individuals. 

Tanya represents the Institute on the Chartered Body Alliance, which she represents on the Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC), where she is contributing to the national policy discussions on skills. Tanya also chairs sector roundtables, championing innovation and inclusion in banking and is a prominent voice in the sector through her podcasts, seminars, and keynote speaking engagements. 

A certified SAFe 5 Agilist and Executive Coach, Tanya is committed to embedding agile thinking and ethical leadership across the profession. 

Mark has chaired the Financial Services Skills Commission since its formation in March 2020. With over 50 members employing about 30% of the one million people who work in financial services workforce, the Commission seeks to support its members to upskill and reskill their employees. The Commission and its members are working closely with HM Treasury and Skills England to develop a response to the long term skills needs of the sector.  

Outside of the Commission, Mark chairs Pay.UK, advises PwC and is chair of a Westminster based homelessness charity.  

Between 2001 and 2015, he was the MP for Fareham and served as a minister in the Coalition Government between 2010 and 2013 when he was Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Minister for Employment. 

Sarah is the CEO of Blueprint for Better Business, a charity that helps businesses to be inspired and guided by a purpose that benefits society and respects people and planet. She is a passionate advocate for making business “more human” - places where people flourish, communities prosper, and long-term sustainability is the driving force. She has over 25 years’ experience leading in fast-paced commercial environments at some of the UK’s largest retail companies.

With a career spanning medical research, leadership roles in higher education and then banking, Dame Susan chairs Forth Green Freeport, attracting inward investment to deliver green reindustrialisation in Scotland aligned with fair work. She also chairs GEFI (Global Ethical Finance Initiative) which sits at the hub of the ethical finance movement internationally.

The first woman to head a UK or European clearing bank as Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland plc, she was also inter alia senior independent director of both SSE plc and J Sainsbury's plc, chair of Scottish Water, Business Stream and NAIT, director of Bank of England and lay member of Court at Edinburgh University. She was founding chair of Scotland's Fiscal Commission, the country’s official, independent economic and fiscal forecaster and, until recently, a non-executive Member of the Office for Budget Responsibility. She has also chaired several Scottish arts organisations including the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Focused on the creation of long-term value in business and enterprise, she helped develop numerous social finance and impact investing entities in the US and the UK and advised the UK’s Place-based Climate Action Network. A persistent voice on ethics in finance, she chaired the Financial Services Culture Board which developed a unique analytical framework to raise standards of behaviour and competence in financial services and, with the Chartered Banker Institute, she led her industry to support the creation of professional standards for bankers for the first time anywhere.

Alongside several honorary degrees, professional fellowships and business awards, Dame Susan is a Fellow of the Chartered Banker Institute and a Freeman of the City of London.

Tina Harrison is Professor of Financial Services Marketing and Consumption at the University of Edinburgh Business School. Her research encompasses the human side of money in a digital age: how people learn about, experience and manage their finances. In collaboration with partners including the Money and Pensions Service, financial organisations and Young Scot, she has researched and evaluated practical approaches to helping financial consumers build confidence and capability in their financial decisions and financial wellbeing. Her research has spanned the full life course, from building financial foundations with children and young people through to retirement saving and pensions, alongside work with financial organisations to develop solutions that support consumer decisions and outcomes.