ModaMortgages has hired Darrell Walker as head of mortgage sales and distribution.  

The soon-to-launch specialist buy-to-let broker-only lender is owned by digital bank Chetwood Financial, which was granted a full UK banking licence in 2018.  

The firm says Walker has worked with Chetwood over the last year, “helping to develop the ModaMortgages proposition and build out the team, as the lender readies for launch”.  

Prior to that, industry veteran Walker spent two-and-a-half years in product development and sales at Shawbrook Bank, leaving last September.  

He has spent more than thirty years in the industry working at OneSavings Bank, building and developing the Prestige Finance and Interbay commercial sales and distribution business, before also leading the group’s product and proposition function.  

Walker has also held a range of senior posts at Barclays Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and Legal & General. He started his career in 1991 at Coventry Building Society, where he spent two years, leaving as an assistant branch manager.   

Chetwood founder and chief executive Andy Mielczarek says: “Darrell understands the specialist lending market inside out, and has been instrumental in developing the ModaMortgages proposition.”  

Walker adds: “As a straight-talking specialist lender, ModaMortgages aims to make the BTL mortgage process smarter, faster and simpler, focusing on the essentials to ensure a fast and transparent service.”    

In September, Chetwood Financial appointed Ian Lonergan as group chair, with Lonergan also helping to develop ModaMortgages over the last two years.  

Lonergan is a founder and was the chief executive of Precise Mortgages.