Hinckley & Rugby Building Society Appoints Steven Amos as New CEO

Hinckley & Rugby Building Society has appointed Steven Amos as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 November 2026. The move signals a strategic shift toward fintech-led growth for the 160-year-old mutual, as Amos transitions from his role leading Raisin UK to succeed Barry Carter, who oversaw the society's recent digital transformation and record asset growth.

What was announced

Steven Amos will take the helm at Hinckley & Rugby Building Society on 1 November 2026, pending regulatory approval. He joins from the savings fintech Raisin UK, where he served as Chief Executive Officer and focused on scaling assets under management and developing partnerships across the banking and building society sectors. His career includes senior leadership positions at Together Money, Aldermore Bank, Islamic Bank of Britain, and HBOS, covering retail banking, mortgages, and marketing.

Amos replaces Barry Carter, who is scheduled to depart the Society in December 2026 to become CEO of StreamBank. Carter’s tenure, which began with his appointment as Chief Operating Officer in July 2022 before moving into the CEO role, was marked by significant financial milestones. Under his leadership, the Society achieved its strongest profit performance since 2008. By September 2026, Hinckley & Rugby reached record savings and mortgage balances, with total assets amounting to £900 million. This period also saw the completion of a 2024 rebrand and a comprehensive digital transformation aimed at modernising the mutual’s operational structure and risk capabilities.

"Hinckley & Rugby has a proud history spanning more than 160 years, and it's clear that a lot of hard work has gone into building the Society we see today. The role feels like a natural fit for my experience across the sector, and I was particularly drawn to the team and the Board's shared vision for the Society's future. Building societies have an important opportunity to respond to changing customer expectations and the growth of digital competitors, while staying true to what makes them special. I'm looking forward to working with the team and building on what they've achieved."

Steven Amos

The companies involved

Hinckley & Rugby Building Society is a long-standing UK mutual institution with a history dating back more than 160 years. Operating primarily through its digital presence and branch network, the Society focuses on providing mortgage and savings products to its members. As a mutual, it is owned by its members rather than shareholders, a structure that informs its commercial strategy and community-focused initiatives.

The Society has recently navigated a period of significant change, including a 2024 rebranding exercise and an overhaul of its internal succession and investment strategies. Its current market position is defined by a balance of traditional mutual values and a push toward digital modernisation to compete with newer market entrants. The appointment of a CEO with a background in the fintech sector, specifically from Raisin UK—a platform known for aggregating savings products—suggests a continued emphasis on leveraging technology to drive member value and operational efficiency within the building society model. This transition occurs as the Society maintains a balance sheet of approximately £900 million in total assets.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely followed the leadership evolution and market challenges facing Hinckley & Rugby Building Society. In late 2023, we covered the previous leadership transition in Hinckley & Rugby Building Society appoints new CEO. More recently, the Society’s operating environment has been influenced by broader shifts in consumer behaviour. In September 2026, FF News explored how traditional financial institutions are contending with new technology in AI Overtakes Banks: Young Adults Turn to Chatbots for Financial Advice. This report highlighted the increasing pressure on banks and building societies to adapt their service models as younger demographics increasingly look toward automated and digital-first solutions for financial guidance and product selection, a trend that directly impacts the mutual sector's long-term growth strategy.

What this means

The transition from a transformation-focused leader to a fintech specialist suggests that the UK building society sector is no longer content with merely digitising legacy processes. By hiring from Raisin, Hinckley & Rugby is positioning itself to better navigate the platform-driven savings market, where visibility and ease of switching are paramount. This move puts pressure on mid-tier mutuals that lack the scale for heavy R&D or the niche appeal to ignore digital trends. The central question for the sector remains whether the traditional mutual ethos can survive the friction-free, often impersonal nature of high-growth fintech platforms while maintaining the community-centric identity that defines the movement.