Metro Bank, Britain's revolutionary UK retail and commercial bank, has appointed Jason Oakley as Managing Director of Commercial Banking. Jason will be responsible for growing Metro Bank as a trusted adviser and lender to Greater London’s small and medium-sized companies. He will report into Chief Executive Craig Donaldson.
Metro Bank launched on July 29, 2010 and since then has grown at a rapid rate ahead of plan. Jason joins at an important time for the bank, which in June raised capital of £126 million to fuel expansion to 200 stores by 2020. Metro Bank has over 110,000 business and personal accounts, and its successful engagement with London businesses means that business lending currently makes up over half of Metro Bank’s lending activity.
Jason joined Metro Bank in July with a very strong background in commercial banking and lending, including roles as Head of Business Banking at RBS and Natwest, Regional Managing Director of RBS and Chief Executive of Hanco ATM Systems, the UK's largest independent ATM deployer. More recently, Jason has held a succession of high profile interim roles including Managing Director of Acorn to Oaks Group, Head of Programme Management at Close Brothers and Infrastructure Director of Close Premium Finance.
Jason will work alongside Mark Price, previously Managing Director of Business and Commercial Banking, who moves to the role of Chief Credit Officer to grow and develop Metro Bank’s Commercial and Mortgage Underwriting teams.
Craig Donaldson, Chief Executive of Metro Bank commented: “Metro Bank has ambitious expansion plans and Jason’s appointment will continue to turbo charge our growth in the commercial markets. We’ve been blown away by local reaction to our style of community banking. In particular, our strong lending book is a direct result of our model of local bankers making local loans, providing unparalleled personal service. With Jason and Mark both focused on developing our Commercial offering, Metro Bank is set up to help London’s businesses achieve success."