B-North, a UK-based business lending company, announced on Tuesday it has further strengthened its top team with four major appointments, including a new HR Director and Treasurer. The hires mark a continuation of the firm’s growth as they accelerate towards their launch.
B-North reported that Sue Murdoch, the company’s new HR Director, comes with huge knowledge of organization development, culture and HR leadership, with previous roles at National Australia Bank, International Personal Finance (IPF), Professional Services company WYG, telecoms company KCOM, and leading veterinary services provider Eville & Jones. Sue will play a part in helping the B-North team grow and thrive as they move towards launch.
Meanwhile, B-North noted that Matt Dobson, a highly experienced commercial banker will join as the firm’s new Treasurer and will play a key role in the running of the bank. Dobson was previously Finance Director at the Furness Building Society, before which he was Head of Debt Capital Markets at RBS spinout Williams and Glyn.
B-North further shared Chris Pendlebury and Matthew Kenny join the firm’s IT team bringing a wealth of experience. Chris Pendlebury has a long track record of managing the deployment of IT systems and will join as Development and Integration Manager, and will oversee internal development of B-North applications and integration and will ensure regular updates of the platform. Speaking about the new appointments, Jonathan Thompson, Co-Founder and CEO of B-North stated:
“We are delighted to welcome four more talented people to our growing team as we move to the most exciting stage of our journey so far. Sue, Chris, Matt, and Matthew all bring significant experience in their respective fields. I am always humbled and excited by the quality of talent we are able to attract at B-North and these latest recruits continue that theme.It bodes well for the future and I look forward to working with the new team members as we move towards securing our banking licence and ultimately towards delivering the best possible experience for our customers.”
As previously reported, B-North is now looking to change the face of business lending by aiming to lend up to ten times faster than other banks in order to help SMEs grow and develop.
“B-North wants to disrupt the £154 billion UK business lending market. The majority of SME lending is via the big High Street banks and our experience shows they often use outdated ‘legacy’ systems, rigid lending policies, and faceless, centralised processing centres. SMEs can have to jump through hoops and face an impersonal ‘computer says no’ approach, and our experience shows that it can take more than four months before they get their cash, so their development plans may have to be put on hold.”
B-North then added that the new hies will play a “key part” in its mission to shake up the UK’s £150 billion business lending market by delivering the first truly regional business bank in 150 years.