Bagan has 16 years of experience as a commercial banker and was most recently a commercial finance broker with Empire Commercial Finance.

Opening for business in November 2020, Recognise Bank has already received more than £500 million worth of mortgage and loan enquiries and aims to provide more than £1.5 billion of business lending over the next five years.

James Meigh, regional director at Recognise Bank, said: “We continue to add further quality resource to our North West and Yorkshire team, and Paul’s appointment ensures we have another highly-experienced individual who has operated in this region since he started his career with RBS in 2000.

“Paul has worked with business owners and real estate investors and is perfectly suited to developing these relationships and ensuring our adviser partners, and their SME clients, have access to our excellent SME-focused loan and mortgage products.”

Bagan added: “I’m very pleased to be joining Recognise Bank and the very strong team that James is assembling here in the North West and Yorkshire. This has been my ‘patch’ for many years and

“I’m acutely aware of the needs of businesses in this area, and how a new bank like Recognise can provide the human touch and the personal element to these firms. That is much in need and I’m looking forward to helping SMEs bounce back after the pandemic and providing them with the finance they need to do so.”

The latest North West and Yorkshire appointment follows the recent announcement of three new business development managers for Recognise Bank covering London and the Midlands, and two sector specialists covering professional practice and healthcare.