Halifax direct arm lands rival boss

Greenfield.co, the new telephone and Internet bank from Halifax, has poached Standard Life Bank marketing manager Angela MacIntosh to be its marketing chief.

MacIntosh is one of 11 employees to follow former Standard Life Bank managing director Jim Spowart, who left earlier this month to set up the Net bank. Spowart says Greenfield is a working title and the new name will be announced shortly.

MacIntosh will report to Spowart and have overall responsibility for marketing. She will work with Spowart to build a marketing team of between six and ten staff and appoint an advertising agency.

Spowart says he has approached several unnamed agencies and is considering using Bates UK, which handles the Halifax account.

Before joining Standard Life, MacIntosh worked as a marketer at Direct Line. She worked with Spowart, who was responsible for setting up the company.

Halifax is to pump £750m into the new bank over three years. It is expected to launch in March.

Spowart says: “We are targeting ABC 1 customers, most of whom are likely to start with the phone operation and move onto the Net.”

Greenfield will seek to lure customers from the traditional high-street banks by targeting personal lending, current accounts, insurance and stakeholder pensions.