Recognise Bank has hired Paul Bagan as a business development manager in the North West and Yorkshire as the lender boosts its presence in the region.

Bagan joins three other BDMs in the region that the business added last month – Chris Stevens, Michael Doxford and Jonathan Kirk.

The bank says it is “developing a strong regional hub designed to ensure its small and medium-sized enterprises have access to a highly experienced and local team, helping business to regrow following the pandemic”.

Bagan’s last role was a commercial finance broker with Empire Commercial Finance, which he joined in May.

Prior to that, he worked for more than 20 years at the Royal Bank of Scotland, leaving as a relationship director. He takes up his post with Recognise Bank with immediate effect.

Recognise Bank launched in November 2020, and operates as a bank authorised with restriction, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

The lender says it has received more than £500m of mortgage and loan enquiries and aims to provide more than £1.5bn of business loans over the next five years.

Recognise Bank regional director James Meigh says: “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.”

Recognise Bank’s Bagan adds: “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.”