NatWest has appointed Harsh Agarwal as managing director of customer experience and engagement within its retail banking division. Agarwal joins from Ikea, where he spent six years across product management, chief product officer and chief omnichannel officer roles, bringing large-scale consumer digital experience into a UK banking leadership team.

Detailed in the announcement, Agarwal joined Ikea in November 2019 as vice president of product management for its fulfilment domain before being promoted to global chief product officer six months later, a role he held for more than three years. Before Ikea, he led engineering and product teams at Target and worked as principal and e-commerce portfolio manager at Microchip Technology.

The structural driver behind the hire is banks increasingly recruiting senior digital and product leadership from large consumer retail brands rather than traditional banking backgrounds, seeking omnichannel experience that can be applied directly to mobile banking and digital product design.

"Harsh's global consumer experience and ability to turn insight into commercial value will help us deliver simpler, more personalised banking and grow deeper customer relationships," said Solange Chamberlain, CEO of retail banking at NatWest.

As head of the retail banking division's customer experience and engagement team, Agarwal will be responsible for consolidating propositions, segment strategy and digital experience capabilities across NatWest's mobile app and its wider digital products and services.

The appointment builds out NatWest's retail banking leadership team, following the earlier appointments this year of Tamara van den Ban as managing director of premier banking, Des McDaid as managing director of everyday banking and Judith Curickshank as chief operating officer of retail banking.

NatWest Group plc is headquartered in Edinburgh and trades on the London Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NWG, reporting revenue of £16.641 billion (approximately €19.7 billion) and net income of £5.834 billion (approximately €6.9 billion) for 2025, with more than 59,300 employees.

For the sector, the appointment reflects a wider push among UK banks to import consumer-grade digital experience talent as they compete on app-based service and personalisation rather than branch-based relationships alone.

Source: FinTech Futures