- To
date, OakNorth has lent £3bn, helping to create 10,000 new homes and
13,000 new jobs across the UK[1];
- OakNorth’s
regional expansion will come as a welcome sign to British businesses that
it has every intention to continue supporting them at a time when many
lenders will be retrenching from the market;
- Overseeing
lending operations in Manchester is Christopher Swarbrick who joins as a Senior Director, Debt Finance from
Europa Capital Debt Investment. He will be joined by David Rowlinson who
joins from Investec as Director,
Property Finance;
- Christopher
Richards, who joins from RBS, is OakNorth’s first Midlands-hire
(Birmingham), while Tom Windett
who joins from HSBC is the lender’s first South West-hire (Bristol).
OakNorth – the bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs – is bolstering its
regional presence with the appointment of four senior team members in
Manchester, the Midlands and the South West.
Despite ongoing
economic uncertainty as a result of Brexit, OakNorth, which made £33.9m pre-tax
profit in 2018, continues to see increasing demand from businesses and property
developers across the UK, keen to pursue their growth ambitions. The business
has lent £3bn since its launch in September 2015 and the last 12 months has
seen it receive over £500m of repayments and a 160% increase in total loan
facilities.
Christopher
Swarbrick, who has 18 years’ banking experience, joins as a
Senior Director,
Debt Finance from Europa Capital Debt Investment and will lead on day to day responsibilities for the
team in Manchester. He will report directly into Ben Barbanel,
Head
of Debt Finance, who is based in OakNorth’s London HQ. He will be joined by
David Rowlinson, who has 33 years’ experience from a multitude of institutions,
and joins from Investec where most recently, he led lending operations from
their Manchester office.
Christopher Richards joins from RBS where he
spent 11 years and most recently held the role of
Senior Relationship
Manager, managing a portfolio of 40 complex banking relationships. He will
be based out of Birmingham – OakNorth’s first hire in the Midlands. Tom
Windett, who has over 12 years’ experience in
deal structuring and transaction management for corporate, entrepreneur and
family office clients – most recently at HSBC – will be based in Bristol and
will cover the South West.
Ben Barbanel, Head of Debt Finance at OakNorth, commented: “Our
co-founder, Rishi Khosla, has always said that the best businesses thrive in
times of economic turmoil. Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, we continue to
see incredible demand from British businesses keen to pursue their growth
ambitions, and because most high-street banks have been retrenching from SME
lending, this has only been compounded.
“One of the features about our process that our
borrowers greatly appreciate is the ability to discuss their finance needs
directly with the Credit Committee. To ensure we can continue offering this
experience whilst providing British businesses and property developers with
access to customised debt finance options, we have made several senior hires in
Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham – all of whom have incredibly strong
regional knowledge and over a century of experience between them.”