Since officially trading in September 2015, OakNorth has lent some £450m to leaders of growing businesses. By the end of 2016 it had issued £300m, while £150m has been lent in Q1 2017. Described as the bank for entrepreneurs, OakNorth was founded by entrepreneurs who knew only too well the difficulties business owners faced when scaling with limited finances. As the bank expects to lend an additional £400m, if not more, by the end of the year, Cristina Alba Ochoa has been named new CFO and board director. She joins from GE Capital International, where her role saw her lead the M&A finance readiness department. With more than two decades of experience at senior level financial management, she directed a team that controlled more than $100bn of sales across territories during her time at GE. Rishi Khosla, CEO and co-founder at OakNorth, said: “The last 18 months have seen phenomenal growth for the company – we tripled our loan book in the six months following the Brexit vote last summer and this trend has continued in Q1 of this year, with our loan book now standing at £450m. “We want to continue building on this success. Cristina is a perfect fit for this role given her past experience as CFO for GE Bank’s $5Bn European leveraged finance division.” An OakNorth deal in March secured £600,000 for coffee chain Notes, with which it will open two new London sites. Elsewhere, luxury property developer Paul Godfrey sealed £19m to acquired a 60,000 sq ft location in Kilburn that will be built into 60 high-end apartments. And in the affordable homes space, developer Pocket Living will use £4m to produce 153 homes for first-time buyers in the Croydon area. Alba Ochoa will seek to develop and maintain “robust control” across finance and treasury facilities, while ensuring tax compliance, planning financial activities and budgets, working closely with Khosla. “I’m very excited to be joining OakNorth – the bank has already proven its proposition in the UK market and established itself as a credible contender to the larger high-street banks,” she said. “It has built its own IP around origination and credit and created an efficient business model which enabled it to break even in just 11 months. I look forward to joining the team and helping to lead the bank in its ongoing success.”
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.