Lenders
Buckinghamshire Building Society
Howard Machine is to be the new chairman of the Buckinghamshire Building Society. He succeeds Laurence Magee, who is standing down after 10 years.
John Stringer, a director of the society for 20 years, is also to retire from the board. ‘Good corporate governance indicates that both John Stringer and myself should not seek re-election to the board,’ said Magee.
Machine is a chartered accountant and partner in accountants Baker Tilly. He joined the board of Buckinghamshire BS in 1992 and became vice chairman in 1995.
Of his predecessor Machine said: ‘Lawrence Magee will be a hard act to follow. During his tenure, assets grew from £40m to £106m in a period which included one of the most savage property recessions this country has known.’
UCB Home Loans
Mark Saddleton has been appointed as head of business development at UCB Home Loans.
He was previously head of business generation in the intermediary markets department of UCB’s parent company Nationwide, where his responsibilities included e-trading in intermediary markets and sales through third-party websites.
Saddleton replaces Tony Jones, who has left UCB to become managing director of Pink Home Loans. Saddleton has 15 years’ experience at Nationwide and held a number of senior positions. He was key to the Mortgage Brain project and has existing relationships with many people in the intermediary market.
Charles Reed, managing director of UCB Home Loans, said: ‘Mark has a wealth of relevant experience and I am sure he will bring new ideas and a fresh approach to the business. We are excited he will be joining our team to drive forward the successful development of UCB Home Loans.’
Crown Equity Release
Crown Equity Release has appointed Lyn Casling as a non-executive board director. The move forms part of Crown’s application to become a member of the Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP) association.
Casling’s appointment is a significant step in this direction as he is a key industry figure and partly responsible for establishing the SHIP code of conduct, to which all major players in the equity release market subscribe.
Casling is a director of Challenger Life, the UK subsidiary of Challenger International, an Australian financial services group. Previously he was director and general manager of Carlyle Life Assurance Company for nine years and was also director of SHIP.
Mark King, managing director of Crown, said: ‘Lyn’s compliance expertise will be invaluable to the company as the industry moves towards an increase in regulation. We are pleased to have a such a widely-acknowledged expert join our board when the equity release market is expanding rapidly.’
intermediaries
Bradford & Bingley
Bradford & Bingley (B&B) has appointed David Cooper as product development director for its distribution business. His specific brief will be to focus on the development of new products in both mortgages and general insurance. Cooper has 18 years’ experience in financial services. He joins B&B from Goldfish bank, where he was product director. Before Goldfish, Cooper was general manager of savings and investments with Centrica Financial Services.
