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Chetwood Bank makes Cleary interim mortgages MD as Arwas steps down

Chetwood Bank makes Cleary interim mortgages MD as Arwas steps down
Anna Sagar
Written By:
Posted:
September 10, 2025
Updated:
September 10, 2025

Chetwood Bank has appointed Alan Cleary (pictured) as its interim managing director for its mortgage division as Andrew Arwas steps down from the role.

Cleary joined Chetwood Bank as the chair of its mortgage advisory board in 2024, having announced his retirement from the industry in 2021.

He was previously head of sales at BM Solutions and moved on to the role of director of Halifax Intermediaries for a 14-year period. He was then managing director of Exact Mortgage Experts for 15 years.

Cleary went on to co-found Charter Court Financial Services, which merged with OneSavings Bank in 2019. At OSB, he led the Precise Mortgages, Kent Reliance for Intermediaries and InterBay Commercial brands.

Arwas was one of the co-founders of Chetwood Bank and has worked in several senior roles at the firm, including head of delivery, head of architecture, head of corporate development and director of transformation before taking on his current role as managing director for mortgages in 2023.

Prior to that, he spent 11 years at Capco and also worked for Barclays between 1992 and 2005.

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Chetwood Bank said it would name a permanent successor for Arwas in due course.

Paul Noble, CEO of Chetwood Bank, added: “I’m delighted to announce that Alan has agreed to take over the reins of our mortgages division. We’re fortunate to have such an experienced and safe pair of hands available to us while we look to appoint a permanent successor to Andrew.

“Andrew is one of Chetwood Bank’s original founders and played a crucial role in helping us expand from a small start-up to the successful digital challenger bank we are today.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew for everything he did during his time here and to say how grateful we are for his drive, determination and vision.”

Cleary added: “The vision Chetwood Bank has for increasing funding into the buy-to-let market and working with brokers to help even more of their landlord clients persuaded me to come out of retirement, so I’m delighted to be able to step up and help steer the bank through the next stage of its growth journey.”

Chetwood Bank recently hit a £5bn balance sheet milestone and expanded its offices to Manchester.

The firm also appointed Richard Lawton as director of bridging to launch and oversee its proposition, which is due to launch later this year.