OakNorth Bank has announced the appointment of Rajesh Gupta as CFO, who will be joining the bank pending regulatory approval.

Rajesh will be joining OakNorth from  Kensington Mortgages where he spent the last five and a half years as its CFO.

Prior to working with Kensington Mortgages, Rajesh had a 21-year career with General Electric, where he had responsibilities for entities with assets ranging from $5bn to $50bn.

Rajesh takes over from Cristina Alba Ochoa who joined the Bank as its CFO in April 2017 and after a successful journey with OakNorth, is moving to Barcelona to be closer to family. Cristina will remain CFO until Rajesh joins and will continue in a different role at OakNorth going forward.

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.’

Rajesh Gupta continued:

‘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.’

OakNorth bank has had an extremely busy year despite the challenges of Covid-19. The lender looks for strong and committed teams to support, believing that the team is integral to success. The early years sector is still a very lucrative and prosperous one with positive signs of growth.

To see a fantastic example of OakNorth and one of its clients, watch our webinar .