Maria will replace Alice Altmaire, who is leaving her position to take up a new role as CEO at RCI Financial Services and RCI Bank in the UK.

Maria was previously director of intermediary lending at Atom bank, where she helped to launch its retail mortgage proposition.

During her time there, she was part of the team that grew its lending book to £2.3bn in two years.

Maria said: “I'm honoured to be joining the board of such an entrepreneurial and highly respected bank.

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“Having recently launched facial recognition software and expressed a commitment to deploy technology for better customer experiences, I'm excited to bring my own digital expertise to the board.”

Graham Davin, chief executive officer at United Trust Bank, added: “Maria’s experience developing and launching Atom bank’s mortgage business and designing market-disrupting technology will be valuable to the board as we aim to significantly grow UTB’s mortgage business over the next few years. 

“We are keen to utilise the latest technology to improve customer journeys and create efficiencies, and Maria’s knowledge in that field is second to none.”