OneSavings Bank (OSB) group general counsel and company secretary Zoe Bucknell is set to step down from her role after five years at the helm of the challenger bank.
Bucknell, who has yet to reveal her next destination, joined the bank in 2011 and led the bank through its flotation on the London Stock Exchange in 2014. Her last day at the company is 31 March 2016.
“The IPO was excellent and I’m taking the opportunity to take a bit of time out,” Bucknell told The Lawyer. “I have had five brilliant years at OneSavings Bank. If I was going to take on another GC role I think I’d really like to take on a startup for a transformational role.”
OSB has yet to announce her replacement although it is understood that the bank is recruiting externally.
Bucknell became OSB’s general counsel on the day it changed from Kent Reliance and immediately faced a tough mix of start-up and legacy issues. Prior to that, she worked as legal and compliance director at Principle Insurance Holdings for over two years and was group legal counsel and company secretary for specialist insurance underwriting group Advent Capital Holdings.
She was named in The Lawyer Hot 100
OSB set up its initial legal panel in March 2015 with head of legal Sam Roberts managing the tender process. This process allowed the company to move away from a hefty informal roster of advisers, according to an interview with Bucknell for The Lawyer last year.
The bank had its mid-term review of the panel in December 2015 and will formally review its roster at the end of this year.
Current panel firms include Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, Bedell Cristin, Clifford Chance, Eversheds, King & Wood Mallesons, Mourant Ozannes, Rosling King, Squire Patton Boggs, Shoosmiths, Shakespeares and Travers Smith.