FinTech had come of age when our client, a Peer to Peer lender, entered the market in the 2010s, and for the first six years of trading, the business was predominantly focused on retail lending with a team working out of an office in London. Those early years were hugely successful and set the foundation for expansion into other lending areas – and this is when our client sought our expert help.
An exclusive partnership
We’d worked with the hiring manager before he joined this young P2P lender. He knew our strengths in the market, having placed high-quality candidates for his team at a bank based in the West Midlands. An exclusive partnership allowed us to search for the best talent and identify traditional bankers who could adapt to the FinTech culture and successfully operate in a very different environment.
Moving into business lending
This team, separate from the core business, required super-skilled professionals to achieve business lending origination goals of c£20m per month. Mainly working from home offices across the country, the focus was on experienced bankers with a solid professional and introducer network who could work independently to achieve the company’s goals. We knew what qualities to look for: high performers with a proven track record who could adapt easily in a shifting landscape.
A new team:
- The first hire, a national head, had big bank experience responsible for recruiting and managing the UK wide team of business developers and London based team of credit-focused relationship managers.
- Next, we placed traditional credit savvy commercial bankers, with strong business development in their blood, in locations covering the north-west, north east, south coast, London and Yorkshire.
- And finally, we placed a London based team of credit relationship managers dealing with smaller ticket deals that came directly into the business through alternative channels (not BDM).
“This is an area we excel in,” explains Chris Notley, Managing Director at Chamberlain. “Over 50 percent of our business covers relationship management and business development roles, so we quickly grasped the needs of the business and used our network and geographical reach to find the perfect candidates.”
Attracting the right calibre
Our biggest challenge was attracting traditional bankers to work for an unknown brand in a relatively untested lending area. The aftermath of the financial crash had made its mark, and big bank candidates were cautious about moving to the unknown, avoiding any future risk should there be another crash. Nevertheless, through our expertise, extensive network and geographical reach, we managed to get the right people on board, successfully building the client’s team.
Why Chamberlain?
As specialists in banking covering a wide range of disciplines throughout the UK, it makes us the obvious choice for growing banks and small lenders. We specialise in attracting banking and finance talent for sales, product, risk, operations, relationship management and compliance. In addition, we bring the ‘Fin’ expertise to FinTech.
Please get in touch:
Chris Notley
Managing Director
chris.notley@chamberlaincareers.com
