(Reuters) - Britain's troubled Metro Bank <MTRO.L> said Chief Executive Craig Donaldson had agreed with the board to step down at the end of the year and that Chief Transformation Officer Dan Frumkin will become interim head, effective Jan. 1.
Metro said on Wednesday that Donaldson, who has held the post of CEO since 2009, had led the bank through what has been a challenging period and will remain available to the board as an advisor until the end of 2020.
News of Donaldson's departure comes after Metro reported a loss for the third quarter in October and said its chairman Vernon Hill has stepped down two months early, warning it may have to curb its growth plans as it battles to recover from an accounting scandal.
The lender came under scrutiny after it disclosed a major accounting error that had under-reported its exposure to higher-risk loans by almost 1 billion pounds ($1.28 billion).
"While this has undoubtedly been a challenging year, it has been a privilege to serve. I committed to work with the Board until we felt that the Bank was sufficiently strong for me to step away. This has been achieved," Donaldson said.
The lender said it would start the process to search for a new CEO, which will consider both internal and external candidates.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Fenton and Christina Fincher)
