OakNorth Bank is to appoint Rajesh Gupta as CFO.
Gupta will join the UK bank, powered by OakNorth, pending regulatory approval.
He has spent the last five and a half years as CFO of Kensington Mortgages, a specialist non-bank mortgage lender in the UK.
Prior to Kensington, he had a 21-year career with General Electric where he held various positions including CFO of GE Capital Bank UK, CFO for GE Money Bank in the Czech Republic and head of financial planning and analysis for the EMEA Region. Combined, these saw him oversee $62bn worth of assets.
Gupta takes over from Cristina Alba Ochoa, who joined the bank as its CFO in April 2017. She is moving to Barcelona to be closer to her family and will take up a new role at OakNorth. She will remain as CFO until Gupta joins.
Rishi Khosla, CEO and co-founder of OakNorth Bank, said: “Rajesh has a wealth of CFO experience, leading institutions with assets up to 10 times that of OakNorth Bank.
“In the five years since we launched, OakNorth Bank has lent over £4.5bn to hundreds of businesses across the UK, directly contributing to the creation of tens of thousands of new homes and jobs across the country.
“However, we aim to have a much larger impact in the years to come, so it is essential that we continue strengthening our leadership team.
“We’re excited to have Rajesh on board and look forward to welcoming him in the coming months.”
Launched in September 2015, OakNorth Bank has achieved performance metrics that place it amongst the top 1% of banks in the developed world. Its pre-tax profits increased 95% in 2019 to £65.9m.
Gupta said: “I’ve been following OakNorth’s Bank’s incredible growth story for the last few years, so am excited to now be a part of it and be joining at such a seminal moment for both the company and the country.
“In a relatively short time, OakNorth Bank has grown into what is arguably the most successful new bank in the UK and the fastest-growing businesses in Europe.
“I have been very impressed by the passion and energy of the people I have met at OakNorth – this is a great strength.
“Rishi and Joel established the bank to provide financing to the underserved sectors of the SME space and in the wake of the COVID pandemic, this proposition is now all the more critical.”