A bank boss who earns £3.3m a year has admitted he only took the job on condition that he was allowed to work from home.

Mike Regnier, the chief executive of Britain’s fifth-largest lender Santander UK, said he was convinced to accept the role after the bank allowed him to work out of the office most of the time.

The 52-year-old spends up to two days a week working in the bank’s main offices in Milton Keynes and London, and the rest of the week from his home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, or travelling the country.

Mr Regnier was lured into joining Santander in April 2022 from his position as chief executive of the Yorkshire Building Society, which is headquartered in the region.

Prior to joining the bank, he had lived for the past two decades in Yorkshire, where his family is based.

“I don’t think it’s absolutely vital that people spend all five days a week in the office as they did pre-Covid,” he told The Guardian.

“And, actually, had it not been for Covid, I wouldn’t have accepted this job, because I wouldn’t have wanted to be away from home five days a week in London. That wouldn’t have been good for the family or for me.”