Sard joined AFI from Santander’s insurance business in early May after incumbent Alan Mathewson moved to a role in the bank’s retail distribution business.
The FSA gave him the thumbs up on 20 June, AFI confirmed today.
Sard said: "I look forward to leading Abbey for Intermediaries in the next stage of our journey to become the intermediary lender of choice.
“We are committed to supporting the market with great products and service and will be introducing further improvements to make it as easy as possible for intermediaries to do business with us, following the launch of our new document upload facility last week."
Sard has been with Santander UK since 2007.
