Bank North grows team ahead of lending launch
Bank North, the UK’s first truly regional business bank of the modern era, has grown its team further, including adding Neil Boycott as head of credit risk, as the bank continues to progress through its mobilisation phase. It was granted its banking licence (Authorised with Restrictions) by the Prudential Regulation Authority in August.
Neil Boycott joins seven other new starters and will lead Bank North’s credit risk team, helping to develop and manage a robust framework of processes to ensure a smooth and secure lending process. Before joining Bank North, Neil held roles at Barclays, including most recently as senior credit risk manager, and prior to that he worked at Lloyds Banking Group.
The other new starters are 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.
The new hires bring a wealth of expertise across the financial services industry, at national and international brands such as NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, and HSBC, as well as strong regional players such as Leeds Building Society. Outside of banking, some of the new joiners have had spells at multinational tech giant, Microsoft, leading power company, Drax Group, and former high street chain, Phones4U. The experienced team 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.
The latest growth in Bank North’s team follow’s the appointment of Deepak Haria and Madis Toomsalu to the board in September. Since being granted a banking licence and completing a successful ‘Series A’ funding round, Bank North has made strong progress in the mobilisation phase of building the bank and will open its first regional ‘pod’ in Manchester later this month.
Jonathan Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Bank North said: “As Bank North continues to grow it is great to welcome further highly experienced employees to our team. We 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.”
