Pain succeeds Nationwide Building Society's Stuart Bernau, while John Maltby, chief executive of the Kensington Group becomes deputy chairman.
Pain has been managing director of Cheltenham and Gloucester since May 2003. He started his career with Lloyds TSB in 1974 and since then has held various management roles, including managing director of Lloyds TSB Insurance.
Pain is married with three children and in his spare time enjoys travelling and golf.
Commenting on his appointment, Jon Pain said: "The rest of this year is set to be a challenging one for the mortgage industry. Over the next 12 months the Financial Services Authority (FSA) will review the mortgage conduct of business rules (MCOB), and we hope this will establish whether the rules are delivering the intended consumer benefits.
"The industry will also be working with the government and other stakeholders to build the infrastructure needed to deliver home information packs (HIPs), which are due to be launched in June next year. Also in October, we will see the launch of a shared equity scheme between government and mortgage lenders, an important step to getting more first-time buyers onto the property ladder.
"As before, the government and regulatory bodies will continue to play a key role in shaping the operating environment for lenders in 2006 and beyond. We will be working for as coherent a policy approach as possible and to avoid unnecessary, costly and time-consuming intervention. I look forward to working with the CML to develop a mortgage market that meets the needs of lenders and consumers".
