Pester was employed by
McKinsey & Co as a management consultant, before being appointed Group CEO of
Virgin Money. During Pester's tenure as CEO, Virgin Money Group launched in Australia. He then began working in various senior roles for
Lloyds TSB,
Santander and
Lloyds Banking Group. In May 2011, Pester was appointed as the CEO of Project Verde and tasked with overseeing the divestment of 632 bank branches into a new bank in order to comply with a ruling of the European Commission. The divestment was required as a result of Lloyds TSB having received
state aid from the British government during the
2008 financial crisis. The new bank was eventually named TSB. Pester was appointed in 2013 to launch TSB for the Lloyds Banking Group and, in June 2014, led the listing of the bank's shares on the
London Stock Exchange. During this time, the BBC reported that he could earn more than £1.6 million that year in pay and bonuses. He stepped down after a significant IT failure at the bank, which he took responsibility for. On stepping down, Pester took a substantial bonus. This was eventually found to be a ‘contractual severance pay agreement’ . In October 2015, Pester was appointed as an advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and HM Treasury on competition issues in banking, sitting as a member of the High Level Treasury Advisory Group. In 2020, Pester was appointed chair of the Fairer Finance Consumer Advisory Board. Pester co-founded Loop, a money-sharing social networking app, in 2021. Between 2022 and 2025, he was chairman of
Tandem Money in 2022, during which period Tandem acquired Loop in April 2023. He has also advised private equity groups including KKR, Centerbridge, and Pollen Street Capital (the ultimate controller of Tandem). In 2023, Pester co-founded the Fintech accelerator Archie. ==Personal life==