Bradford and Bingley (B&B) has recruited Robin Young as its chief operating officer running operations as well as IT and change.

According to Young, his duties at the nationalised bank will include servicing, collections, purchasing and property under “a major business restructuring programme to deliver the maximum value for the government and UK taxpayer”. He will start work tomorrow (Tuesday).

Before joining B&B, Young was working on his own consultancy business, advising companies on change, technology and supply chain management. Prior to that, he acted as the chief information officer of Citigroup's UK consumer division, leaving in October 2008 after 18 months of integration work following the acquisition of online bank Egg.

Bradford & Bingley was part nationalised in September 2008 due to adverse effects of the credit crunch, while Spanish bank Grupo Santander purchased all of its savings business.

As part of the deal, Santander bought B&B’s retail branches, agencies and related employees via its subsidiary Abbey. The plan is to rebrand the branch network as Santander at a cost of £12m by the end of 2010.