Challenger bank makes senior hires and opens Birmingham office

OakNorth Bank has made four hires and opened an office in Birmingham.

Steve Mitchell, who spent more than six years at Santander, will be accompanied by his former colleague, Marcus Hook, to spearhead lending operations out of the newly-opened Birmingham office on Colmore Row.

Meanwhile, Martin Williams, who has more than 35 years’ banking experience, will join the bank’s HQ in London, while Chris Mears will join Tom Windett in Bristol to help cover the South West. Mears has more than 16 years’ experience working across Clydesdale Bank, Barclays, HSBC and most recently, Santander.

Ben Barbanel, head of debt finance at OakNorth Bank, said: “The launch of our Birmingham office and senior-level hires come at a pivotal moment for OakNorth Bank as we look ahead to 2020 and the future lending pipeline.

“While we are of course being more cautious when it comes to assessing credit risk, we see the next six months as a key opportunity to not only prove the strength of our proposition, but to also gain market share at a time when many of the high-street lenders will be pulling back.

“With the help of Marcus, Chris, Steve and Martin, we can take advantage of this further push into the regions and support even more businesses across the UK.”