Directorate change

DIRECTORATE CHANGE AT LEEDS BUILDING SOCIETY

Leeds Building Society appoints Annette Barnes as permanent Chief Executive Officer

Leeds Building Society is pleased to announce the permanent appointment of Annette Barnes, currently Interim CEO, as the Society's Chief Executive Officer.

Annette's appointment follows a comprehensive recruitment process, through which the Board determined that she is the right candidate to lead the Society on a permanent basis. Annette is the Society's first permanent female Chief Executive Officer in its' 151-year history.

Prior to being appointed as Interim CEO in June 2025, Annette served as an independent non‑executive board director at the Society from 2019 onwards. She has over 35 years' experience in financial services, holding senior leadership roles at Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of America and mbna, including as CEO of Lloyds Bank Private Banking Ltd. She is also currently a non-executive director at Stratos Markets Limited.

Annette's experience in financial services, aligned with her background in customer engagement, people leadership and technology has given her strong commercial and strategic skills, in addition to excellent transformation and change capabilities. This level of experience will be essential at the Society continues the journey to replace its core technology platform and invests for the future.

Brendan McCafferty, Chair of Leeds Building Society, said:

"I am delighted that Annette has become the permanent CEO of Leeds Building Society. Following a thorough assessment of both internal and external candidates, the Board is clear that Annette is the outstanding candidate to continue to lead the Society through this important phase of transformation.

"Annette has provided strong leadership since being appointed as Interim CEO and her commitment to growing the organisation and evolving our services to meet member needs is clear. The Board is confident that the Society remains extremely well-placed to continue to deliver its purpose and its strategy."

Annette Barnes, CEO of Leeds Building Society, said:

"I am honoured to have been permanently appointed as the CEO of Leeds Building Society. Whilst becoming a permanent CEO again was not the plan last year, having worked directly with the Board and our wonderful colleagues for the last nine months, I couldn't have been more pleased to be asked to put myself forward alongside other candidates.

"I am delighted to have been selected by the Board at the conclusion of the recruitment process and proud to lead the Society through the next phase of its journey. As set out in our recent annual results, our Society is financially strong and moving confidently into the future. I look forward to working with colleagues to continue to support our members and deliver our purpose of putting home ownership within reach of more people, generation after generation."

For media enquiries please contact:

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About Leeds Building Society

· Leeds Building Society is the UK's fifth-largest Building Society with assets of £32.0 billion and a total membership of over 1,000,000 as at the end of December 2025.

· The Society's purpose is putting home ownership within reach of more people, generation after generation.

· It continues to do today what it was set up to do in 1875 - help people save money and buy their own home. The Society operates as a mutual, developing and innovating its product range and service offer to help members achieve their financial goals.

· The Society won the title of Best Shared Ownership Mortgage Lender in the 2025 What Mortgage Awards, its tenth consecutive year of success in this category.

· The Society employs over 1,800 colleagues, with a head office in the centre of Leeds, a customer contact centre in Newcastle, and a network of 51 branches across the UK.

· The Society has been a Living Wage employer since 2019.

· The Society is committed to the orderly transition to a greener, net zero economy by 2050 and has set a second ambitious target to reduce its scope 1 and 2 location-based emissions by 60% by 2030, aligning with the UK's net zero commitments.

For more on what the Society does and how it helps its members, visit Leeds Building Society