Ex-Harrods Bank CEO joins specialist lender

THE former chief executive of Harrods Bank has been recruited by specialist lender Together.

Cheadle-based Together, which manages a loan book in excess of £1.7bn, has appointed Peter Ball as chief executive of its retail division.

He joins Together’s growing senior leadership team, which over the past three months has added Colin Kersley, ex-CEO of M&S Bank, as a non-executive director (NED) to its retail board, Ron Baxter, senior advisor at the Prudential Regulation Authority, as an independent NED in its retail division, as well as Wayne Bowser, former deputy head of commercial banking at HSBC, as a group NED.

Mr Ball was previously chief executive officer of Harrods Bank, where he led the rejuvenation and transformation of the 120-year-old bank targeted at high net worth customers.

Prior to this, he was product and commercial director at Virgin Money Group, one of the UK’s largest banks and mortgage lenders, and senior vice president of MBNA / Bank of America (2003-2010).     

Mr Ball said: “Together is a unique business which has affirmed its position as a leader in the specialist finance sector over more than four decades of successful trading; providing finance to niche markets that are largely underserved by the mainstream UK lenders. The business has a great energy and a really positive business culture, with its colleagues and customers at its core, and I’m very excited to be joining Together at this time, as it continues to reshape what we think of as traditional financial services.”

Mike McTighe, chairman of Together, added: “We are delighted to have Peter on board. His wealth of experience in the financial services industry perfectly complements the skills and expertise we have built up within our core retail division. This is another high profile hire for the business and highlights our commitment to investing in a leadership team that can help drive our ongoing development, as we seek to make Together a household name across the UK.”