Together hires banking expert as group lending director
Property lender Together has announced the appointment of commercial banking leader Andrew Taylor as the finance firm continues its ambitious growth plans.
Andrew, who has more than 35 years’ experience in financial services, has been appointed the business’s group lending director.
At Together, he will chair the group’s credit committee and take responsibility for residential and commercial underwriting, securities, valuations and development funding.
He will also lead on automation initiatives, designed to drive Together’s business forward and grow the group’s loan book, which currently stands at £8.5bn.
Andrew said: “It’s not often that you find a business with such ambitious growth plans as Together and the group’s ethos fits well with the skills I’ve built up throughout my career.
“It is a small enough organisation to respond with the nimbleness needed to react quickly to changing markets, where customers, brokers and business partners have access to decision makers. However, the business has strong funding lines, a diverse product set and a large appetite to provide the finance needed to meet people’s property ambitions across the UK.
“My first few months will be deep immersion in the business, finding out what has made Together so successful and what is going to help the business to the next phase of its growth journey.”
Andrew began his career with Barclay’s in 1990, spending five years with the bank in various roles from a cashier, a personal banker to working in its securities team.
He then joined National Australia Bank, working with corporates and financial institutions, before moving to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). Over the next eight years he worked in large corporate and mid corporate relationship lending before taking on a leadership role in RBS International where he was head of financial institutions, based in Jersey.
He returned to London as head of leisure for the UK Corporate Bank developing a cadre of specialised relationship managers and driving expansion in the sector.
In 2016 he moved into risk and as head of credit for Business Banking he oversaw significant transformation of the Bank’s approach to SME lending. Andrew later took on the role of head of risk, credit deployment and decisioning with responsibility for all non-automated underwriting decisions across Retail Banking and all high net worth lending within the Bank’s Wealth business, Coutts & Co.
At Together he will report to Dave Sutherland, the group’s chief operating officer.
Dave said: “Andrew’s experience speaks for itself; he’s held senior positions in the banking world and has vast knowledge of credit and risk, has built high-performing teams to deliver large scale transformation, and has worked in customer-facing roles structuring and delivering complex lending solutions.
“His background will hugely benefit Together as we continue our own transformation journey and we are delighted to welcome him into the business as a valued member of the team.”