Founded in 2016, Wrexham-based Chetwood Financial is a digital bank with four consumer products already live – LiveLend, BetterBorrow, SmartSave and credit card Wave – and will launch ModaMortgages, the specialist buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage lender in the ‘coming months’.
Chetwood reportedly bought a £240m mortgage portfolio from Lendinvest in May 2023 and during the year completed a group restructure, acquiring Yobota Limited, the technology company providing the core banking system, from its parent company.
According to the latest company accounts, Chetwood has made significant investments in technology and its core business, developing and launching the ‘Wave’ credit card proposition to sit alongside the group’s unsecured loans business.
Lonergan has worked in financial services for over 30 years and has been working with Chetwood on ModaMortgages since 2021, playing an instrumental role in the strategy, design and launch of the new mortgage business.
He was previously the CEO and founder of Precise Mortgages, which grew to be one of the largest BTL and residential specialist mortgage lenders in the UK.
The parent company of Precise Mortgages and Charter Savings Bank, Charter Court Financial Services, where Lonergan was CEO, became a bank in 2015 and listed on the FTSE 250 in 2017.
Now as Chetwood’s group chair, Lonergan will provide effective leadership of the company’s board. His other principal responsibilities include offering strong strategic oversight for Chetwood’s growth, supporting and challenging managers within the business, and bringing forward new proposals to ensure Chetwood continues as a progressive force in the way it delivers financial products and services in a complex, fast-changing environment.
Chetwood ‘truly stands out’
Lonergan said: “I am delighted to take up this new role. Working on the ModaMortgages proposition behind the scenes over the past two years, I have seen first-hand that Chetwood is absolutely committed to finding smarter, faster and simpler ways to help people financially. The upcoming launch of ModaMortgages is very exciting, but across the board, Chetwood is delivering products that truly stand out in a financial services sector that can often be slow and inflexible. I’m looking forward to helping guide the company as it continues on its disruptive path.”
Chetwood’s founder and CEO, Andy Mielczarek, added: “Ian has already played a fundamental part in shaping ModaMortgages, the new BTL lending proposition that we’re excited to bring to market in the coming months. We’re really pleased to now have him as our group chair – he brings an immense amount of financial services experience and knows how to help companies scale at pace while offering an exceptional customer experience. Ian will undoubtedly help Chetwood forge new ground and accelerate our mission to find better ways to deliver financial products.”
Chetwood Financial was granted a full UK banking licence in 2018 and is targeting distinct customer segments underserved by the market through digitally innovative products.
The bank said it will do this, “through consumer led brands, using a business model that is focused on keeping costs low, with state-of-the-art, cloud-based technology and digital distribution partners.”
Mortgage proposition team appointments will be announced in the next few months.
