Peterborough’s insurance giant BGL Group names new chief executive

Mark Bailie, who is currently helping to develop the NHS Test & Trace service to combat coronavirus, will take over at BGL, based in Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, in September.

He replaces Matthew Donaldson, who will leave the company on Friday after 20 years service of which seven were spent as chief executive.

Mr Donaldson joined BGL in 1999 when the company acquired Arnott Century.

He progressed quickly through the organisation, leading Budget Retail and then the organisation’s e-commerce activity where he played a key role in the creation and establishing of comparethemarket.com.

Mr Donaldson was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of the BGL Group, achieving record growth in revenue and customer numbers.

He will be succeeded by Mark Bailie, who, subject to regulatory approval, will join BGL on September 1.

Mr Bailie has spent 10 years at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and joined the RBS Group Executive in 2015.

He became Chief Operating Officer in 2016 and was, until recently, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bó, its digital banking app.

Before joining RBS, Mr Bailie spent a decade in private equity, leading large-scale buyouts and prior to that he worked for PwC for five years, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.

He is currently on secondment as one of the four business unit leads for the NHS Test & Trace service, a key element in HM Government’s response to coronavirus.

A BGL spokeswoman said: “This is a significant project, requiring the development of technology, infrastructure and the recruitment of the team to run the programme over the coming year.

“His secondment will conclude prior to him joining BGL.”

Until September, Dominic Platt, Chief Finance Officer will be Interim Chief Executive Officer and will lead the business on a day-to-day basis.

Chairman Debbie Hewitt said: “After seven successful years as CEO, Matthew will be handing over to a new leader, who will set the priorities for the next phase of development for the business.

“We thank Matthew for the valuable contribution that he has made to BGL over the years and wish him well for the future.

“I am pleased to welcome Mark to our business.

“He has an extensive background in developing digital strategies for consumer facing businesses, as well as proven hands-on operational expertise and regulatory credentials, having sat on the FCA Open Finance Advisory Panel.

“He is thoroughly familiar with regulated and private equity-owned businesses and will bring strong consumer, people and brand-led experience.

“Our business remains robust, in spite of the uncertain external context of the coronavirus and we very much appreciate the hard work of all colleagues to ensure that we continue to focus on our customers and partners during these unprecedented times.”