REDWOOD Bank is celebrating lending around £150m since launching in Warrington just two years ago.
The Challenger Bank started trading in Warrington in August 2017 and has gone from strength to strength since then.
The very first business bank to be 100 per cent ‘born in the cloud’ following a successful collaboration with Microsoft, Redwood has steadily grown its team and now employs 63 banking specialists, having started with just 25 members of staff.
The Bank has picked up a total of 13 awards, scooping the coveted title of Bank of the Year at the Global Business Excellence Awards in 2018.
Redwood has also recently been named the UK’s Leading Bank for SME Business at the SME News 2019 Business Elite Awards and picked up the 2019 Award for Excellence in Business Banking Services at the Acquisition International’s Global Excellence Awards.
Gary Wilkinson, CEO and Co-Founder of Redwood Bank, said: “I am enormously proud of what we have achieved in only two years of business. However, it’s not been without significant challenges, but through hard work, perseverance and instilling our core values – Simplicity, Certainty, Integrity and Tirelessness, we have successfully executed our plans and continue to grow our business.
“We now have approximately 2,500 customers and we know from their feedback that satisfaction sits at more than 90 per cent, which tells us that our business model is working.
“Although our customers are at the heart of everything we do, a lot of time is spent ensuring our internal culture is also healthy and thriving. We hold monthly staff meetings at which culture is always discussed and use employee surveys and feedback to check the mood and whether everyone feels appreciated, or to identify and address any issues raised.
“We’ve had an incredible first two years and I’m looking forward to the future with enthusiasm, optimism and confidence. A strong team culture sits at the heart of the Bank and I am very proud of the whole team, who have all played huge roles throughout our development and growth.”
Redwood is an ambitious business bank, developed to offer a real alternative for small and medium sized organisations looking to make sure their properties and cash work harder for them.
Since inception Redwood’s popularity and reputation has grown. Most of its business comes from professional landlords, in respect of their commercial or residential property investments.
A number of the Bank’s deals have also come from trading businesses, where it is either lending to the trading business itself or via an Opco/Propco structure. These include a wide variety of borrowers, including haulage, established solicitors’ practices, leisure outlets, and other trading businesses. Following these initial deals, word is spreading, and Redwood is receiving recommendations and repeat business.
Redwood also provides a range of Best Buy savings accounts, which are offered to charities, clubs and associations as well as businesses.
