Bank North, a challenger bank that recently received its banking license, has added to its executive team as it prepares to offer SME lending starting a regional market estimated to be around £150 billion.
Bank North received its banking license in August. It has previously stated it anticipates to commence lending in October. The Manchester-based bank is developing an SME lending bank for the United Kingdom. The bank has said it will open the doors of its first “lending Pod” in Manchester later this year, before a managed roll-out across the UK. Bank North claims it will deliver financing to businesses up to 10X faster than traditional lenders using cloud banking tech and network of physical “pods.”
According to the Bank, Neil Boycott joins seven other new starters and will lead Bank North’s credit risk team, as the company builds out its framework for a secure lending process. Before joining Bank North, Boycott held roles at Barclays, including most recently as Senior Credit Risk Manager, and prior to that he worked at Lloyds Banking Group.
Other executives added to the Bank North team include Mia Hailwood joining as a Change Manager, Michael Walsh as Treasury Dealer, Rick Turpin as Solutions Architect and Adam Conroy as an Accountant.
Tom Briggs has been appointed IT Service Delivery Manager, Kevin Glover as Lending Product & Propositions Manager and Martin Elliott as Secured Funding & Treasury Operations Manager. The new team members will hold roles across Bank North’s expanding IT, Risk, Finance, Commercial and Operations teams.
Bank North says the experienced new team members will play a vital role in building Bank North into a fast, modern, and customer-driven lender aiming to transform the SME lending market in the UK.
Jonathan Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO of Bank North said they are proud to be able to bring high-skilled jobs to Manchester, reaffirming our commitment to the regionalisation of SME lending.
“I look forward to working with our expanding team to deliver the best possible bank to help UK SMEs thrive. As we continue to move through our mobilisation phase I am delighted to welcome what feels like a constant stream of talent into the business. The new starters will provide invaluable expertise to develop functions across Bank North.”