Bucks: New arrival Redwood Bank targets county's businesses

Businesses in Buckinghamshire will be among the targets for Britain's newest bank, Redwood Bank, which has opened for trading.

Redwood, a bank for SMEs, has announced that just over four months after securing its initial banking licence, it has completed its 'mobilisation' phase and has now opened for business, offering secured SME mortgages for business owners, as well as for experienced commercial and residential property investors. It has also launched a competitive business deposit account.

Its speed to market is the result of a combination of factors, including having a very experienced and proven management team, and the fact that it’s the first business bank with 100% cloud- based infrastructure, which improves efficiency as well as security. This demonstrates the importance Redwood places on speed and efficiency in its service delivery, being one of its key values.

The bank has a unique ownership. It is wholly-owned by Redwood Financial Partners, a company controlled by Jonathan and David Rowland, in which Warrington Borough Council has a 33% stake. As part of this, the council’s executive board has approved an investment of £30m in Redwood as part of the bank’s capital funding.

Redwood Bank (redwoodbank.co.uk) is headquartered in Letchworth, from which an experienced team provides a highly personalised, relationship-driven service nationwide. The bank’s main focus will initially be Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire as well as in Warrington, where Redwood has also opened a Warrington & North West regional office to support SME growth in the town and region.

Gary Wilkinson, co-founder and chief executive, said: "We are delighted to be open for business so soon following the issuing of our initial banking licence. We aim to offer a real alternative for small and medium sized organisations, providing them with simple transparent loans and savings accounts, great service and a promise that our money is being invested into British businesses and our local communities.

“As many traditional banks are hampered by poor lending practices from their past and their legacy systems, we are perfectly positioned to help British SMEs take advantage of property opportunities by offering a highly-tailored service for clients that is built around our very experienced regional managers."

As well as providing tailored lending products to business owners and professional landlords, Redwood Bank has also launched a 35-day business savings account offering 0.45% AER variable. Redwood Bank is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the UK’s deposit protection scheme, which protects customers’ eligible deposits up to a total of £85,000.