FURNESS Building Society has appointed Euan Ballantyne as its new head of products.

This is a newly created role.

Mr Ballantyne has been described as a "financial services business leader", and has experience with achievements across a range of retail and business banking sectors.

Most recently he was head of mortgage intermediaries programme for Tesco Bank, leading their development and launch into the intermediaries market.

Before that, he was director for the price comparison website Tesco Compare, and had roles in cards and payments at Visa Europe and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to being part of the Furness team and helping to manage a service and product proposition which will continue to deliver great service to our customers both locally and across the UK.

Sue Heron, marketing and sales director for the Furness, said: “I am delighted to welcome Euan to the society. His proven ability and experience in the industry will be an asset and we all look forward to working with him.”

The Furness has also has launched a new range of Buy to Let products which has been rated “excellent” by Moneyfacts. Alongside this, it has also introduced some changes to its Buy to Let criteria and has confirmed it will be assessing buy to let cases on overall affordability and has launched an online calculator to help brokers when submitting cases.