Five new UK Post Office appointments strengthen financial services team

New Director of Strategy and Marketing, and Head of Marketing
· Three new product heads underline Post Office®’s commitment to financial services market

The Post Office® today announced five new appointments to its financial services team, re-affirming its position as a growing player in the financial services market.

Since launching into financial services with Post Office® Loans in March 2004, the Post Office® has enhanced its offering to include car and home insurance, Child Trust Funds, Guaranteed Equity Bonds and Growth Bonds. With further product launches planned before the end of the year, the Post Office® has made the appointments to drive its financial services offering into the next phase.

The new appointments are:

Gordon Gourlay – Director of Strategy and Marketing. Gordon was previously at Royal Bank of Scotland, which he joined in 2001 as Director of Channel Delivery within Retail Marketing for both RBS and NatWest brands. His responsibilities included overseeing the customer proposition for both the Internet and Telephony channels and the development of the ATM business

Prior to this Gordon worked with Bank of Scotland and then HBOS where he held a wide range of senior positions, latterly as Head of Remote Banking for HBOS.

Claire Oldstein – Head of Marketing. Claire was previously Head of Product Development for the financial services arm of the Post Office®, leading the roll-out of its products since launch last year. She will be responsible for leading all marketing activity in her new role, working closely with the new product heads.

Claire has a strong marketing background and has previously held a number of key roles in Post Office Ltd including Head of Banking and Head of Franchising.

Phil Ashkuri – Head of Insurance. Previously Head of Insurance at Egg Plc. Phil will be responsible for developing Post Office’s® existing car and home insurance businesses and any future insurance product launches.

Whilst at Egg Plc, Phil looked after Egg’s Creditor, Motor, Home, Travel and Life, and Critical Illness Insurance.

Gary Fitton – Head of Lending, responsible for Post Office®’s existing loan product and any future product launches in the credit arena

Gary was previously Head of Borrowing at Egg, with responsibility for the Credit Card, Loan and Mortgage programmes. During this tenure Egg Card grew to be one of the most successful credit card programmes in the UK with 6% market share and just under £4bn of balances.

Richard Norman – Head of Savings and Investments. Richard will be responsible for Post Office®’s existing Growth Bond and Guaranteed Equity Bonds, in addition to any future savings and investment launches.
Richard has over 15 years experience in financial services including time as Product Director, Savings and Investments at Abbey National. Most recently he has been working as an independent consultant to the banking sector.
Patrick Waldron, CEO of the financial services arm of the Post Office® comments:

“We are thrilled to welcome the new team and the experience they bring to the Post Office®. Since launching into financial services 18 months ago the Post Office® has launched a range of great value for money products. The new appointments reflect our commitment to the market and objective to make Post Office® a leading player in the financial services market.”

With 14,600 branches across the country, the Post Office® is the UK’s largest retail and financial services chain in the UK. Its network is larger than all of the UK’s banks and building societies put together. Around 94 per cent of the UK population lives within a mile of a Post Office® branch and 28 million customers visit every week.

Customers can find out more about the great deals on offer from Post Office® financial services by calling 0800 169 2000. Alternatively customers can find out about all Post Office® products and services at www.postoffice.co.uk or by visiting their local Post Office® branch.

– Ends –

About the Post Office®
With 14,600 branches across the country, the Post Office® is the UK’s largest retail and financial services chain in the UK. Its network is larger than all of the UK’s banks and building societies put together. Around 94 per cent of the UK population lives within a mile of a Post Office® branch and 28 million customers visit every week.

In conjunction with its partners, the Post Office® offers over 170 products and services including travel and financial services (including personal loans, car, home and travel insurance), banking services, bill payments, HomePhone (its home telephone service), lottery products, licence applications, phonecards and mobile phone top-ups, and postal services. It is the largest supplier of foreign currency in the UK and is a leading provider of travel insurance.

The Post Office® is also the biggest cash handler in the country – with more than £92 billion passing through its hands each year. 17p in every £1 in circulation goes through a Post Office® branch and around 400 million household bills are paid at Post Office® branches each year.

In the year ending March 2005, the Post Office Ltd total turnover was £1,287 million. Post Office Ltd is a separate limited company within the Royal Mail Group.

To find out where your nearest Post Office® branch is call 08457-223 344.

www.postoffice.co.uk

Inez de Koning 020 7294 3623 / 07940 52602
[email protected]

Hayley Fowell
Post Office Ltd.
Press Office
80 Old Street
London
EC1V 9NN
[email protected]

www.postoffice.co.uk