Member Article

OakNorth continues post-Brexit surge with string of new hires

OakNorth, the challenger bank targeted at entrepreneurs, has welcomed in 2017 with a string of new hires after robust performance following the EU referendum saw its loan book break through the £300m barrier.

The bank, which was only established in September 2015, has bolstered its ranks with three new Directors who will be heading up its Debt Finance and Credit divisions.

Working from the bank’s London office, Georgy Naydenov, formerly of NIBC Bank, and Stuart Blair, formerly of Williams & Glyn, have joined as Debt Finance Directors, while David Webley becomes OakNorth’s Credit Director.

Webley joins the lender’s current Head of Debt Finance, Ben Barbanel, as another former Santander executive on OakNorth’s team, having worked in the bank’s Corporate and Commercial on the back of 25 years at Barclays.

Commenting on the new hires, which brings the financial firm’s headcount up to 110, Barbanel said: “At OakNorth, we aim to be dramatically different to any other provider in the market, taking a 10X approach, which has enabled us to achieve all that we have so far.

“We have built our lending team around this proposition, recruiting only those who share our entrepreneurial drive, ambition, and belief that the current system isn’t working for entrepreneurs and can be massively improved.

“Georgy, Stuart and David all meet these criteria down to a tee and bring a wealth of experience to the team that will help us achieve our ambitious goals for 2017.”

After a momentous first full calendar year in business, where OakNorth became the first challenger bank to break even and unveiled multi-million pound loan packages with the likes of fast food chain Leon, the bank claims it now has a further £500m-worth of deals in the pipeline for this year.