Challenger Bank has ‘strong appetite’ to support SMEs
Redwood Bank is “very much open for business” and has a “strong appetite to lend” to small and medium-sized firms, according to its CEO.
The organisation is the first challenger business bank to be completely ‘born in the cloud’, and, as a consequence, its robust systems and processes are enabling customer service continuity with no disruption. All the Bank’s staff are working from home successfully and seamlessly.
It is adapting well to the harmful economic consequences caused by COVID-19, by introducing a series of measures to support its customers.
Requests for payment holidays are being considered and offered to existing customers, both capital and interest, with every deal assessed on a case-by-case basis as part of the Bank’s commitment to personal customer service.
In addition, the Bank has introduced desktop valuations for all new secured property business loans, as a temporary measure to support customers through these difficult times.
There are no current plans to furlough any of Redwood’s staff and the Bank is helping customers adversely impacted by Covid-19 on a daily basis, having immediately passed on both recent Bank of England base rate reductions in full to its lending customers.
Redwood is still offering market-leading business notice and bond savings products, including a 35-day business savings notice account at a rate of 1.20% and a 95-day business savings notice account at a rate of 1.55%, as well as a 1-year Business Savings Bond paying 1.62%.
Gary Wilkinson, CEO and co-founder of Redwood Bank, said: “During these challenging and uncertain times, I want to stress that looking after our customers, colleagues and business partners, is our number one priority.
“Redwood is very much open for business and our focus will remain on continuing to deliver excellence to all our customers, providing great service, competitive rates and simple products. We are passionate about supporting British businesses and even more keen on helping them navigate this ever-changing and increasingly challenging financial and business landscape – we still have a strong appetite to lend.
He added: “Having recently completed our largest ever single lending deal of £5.8m, we believe this speaks for itself in demonstrating that Redwood continues to be a reliable source of finance for professional landlords and business owners.
Since its inception, Redwood Bank has invested heavily in technology and partnered with Microsoft to deliver a secure service, via a completely internet-based IT system.
Being cloud-based means that working entirely remotely has been relatively simple for the Bank, as it already had secure systems and infrastructure in place to support this.
The Bank has recently shared some cyber security guidance regarding homeworking amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Dave Wickham, Redwood Bank’s head of IT has more than 15 years’ experience working within the IT sector. He has recently issued advice to companies, suggesting they introduce new security processes to protect themselves.
Mr Wilkinson added: “Being a technology-based organisation within the financial services sector, we recognised that one of the ways we could help was to issue advice to people who have begun to work from home. For many, this might be the first time they have worked remotely and being outside the normal routine means that mistakes can easily be made.”
Founded in 2017, Redwood Bank was launched to offer secured SME lending products to owner-occupied businesses, as well as to experienced commercial and residential property investors. It funds this lending by offering market leading savings accounts to businesses, charities, clubs and associations.
Redwood Bank has more than 3,000 business customers and has provided more than £210m in business loans, with over 80 employees and offices in Letchworth and Warrington.
