Monzo co-founder and deputy chief executive Paul Rippon has stepped down from the competitor bank to farm alpacas with his wife in Northumberland.

Mr Rippon said it had been a “privilege” to co-found the company back in 2015 and that he wanted to “go and enjoy life”.

“At 48 years young I’ve been working in financial services for 27 years and working away from home for the last eight years,” the former Starling Bank executive said in a post on LinkedIn.

“Building a fast-growing bank takes its toll and even reducing my ‘work hours’ didn’t reduce the cognitive and emotional overload.”

Mr Rippon said that his wife Debbie had built another business, Barnacre Alpacas, during that time.

“With no farming background or experience we now have over 300 alpacas and welcome many visitors to our farm and holiday cottages,” he said.

“For the next few weeks and months I’m going to enjoy some time with Debbie at our wonderful farm in Northumberland. You’ll find me doing the feed rounds, hosting alpaca walk n’ talks, and driving my tractor.”

Mr Rippon also signalled his intention to spend a day a week doing either non-executive, consulting, or coaching work. Apart from that the rest of his timer will be “reserved for Debbie and our alpaca farm”.