Executive director Matthew Wyles left the firm in February to join Hampshire Trust and sales director Alex Upton was promoted to MD with rumours circling the firm for weeks about further staff moves.
Oldfield founded the firm in 2011 with private equity firm J.C Flowers & Co. and applied for a banking licence earlier this month and is already in discussions with the regulator. Oldfield will remain on the Board as a non-executive director.
FSA authorisation
Castle Trust was originally authorised by the former Financial Services Authority (FSA) in 2012 and offers investment products alongside its mortgage range. In 2017, Castle Trust expanded its business with the acquisition of Omni Capital Retail Finance.
Oldfield said: “I am incredibly proud of building Castle Trust from scratch into a substantial business today. I am also keen to maintain the very strong partnership that I have built with J.C. Flowers & Co., who have been such supportive shareholders and business partners in the growth of Castle Trust and are underpinning the Company’s move to become a bank.”
Oldfield endorsed Bischoff adding: “Martin is a seasoned retail banking CEO and is steeped in the experiences required to build and scale a successful retail banking operation. I have the greatest confidence in his ability to lead the business from strength to strength.
“Handing the reins over to Martin will allow the business to benefit from an experienced retail banker to lead the business in its next phase and allow me to move on to establish a credit-focussed investment manager, which plays to my personal strengths and experiences.”
Secure future
Bischoff said: “I am enthusiastic about joining at this exciting moment in the history of the company. Castle Trust has a bright and secure future as it grows its specialist lending businesses that we can all be proud of and committed to.”
Bischoff has been an executive business adviser at Virgin Money for the last six months after just over five years as MD retail distribution at Santander UK PLC, three years as vice chairman at the Citizens Bank in Boston, USA and several years as MD of NatWest Retail Banking.
Castle Trust has five business units including retail point of sale, speciality mortgages, residential development finance, wholesale lending and retail funding. The lender has more than £750m in assets and 200 staff.
