Wyelands Bank, a new UK bank for SMEs, has made two appointments, Neil Sawbridge and Sarah Burkill, to its executive team.

Sawbridge has joined as the bank’s new chief financial officer to help scale its services and increase its asset base. He is an experienced CFO with over 30 years of experience in finance, tax and business development. He has previously held a number of senior roles at CIT Group, most recently as CFO, helping establish CIT Bank in the UK and CIT Group’s European leasing businesses in Dublin, and has also worked for Dell Financial Services, AT&T Capital and PwC.

Burkill has been appointed as Wyelands Bank’s director of origination. She will focus on the development of new products and channels to markets that complement the bank’s strategy to help provide industrial, trading and manufacturing businesses with greater access to working capital. Burkill is a specialist in delivering working capital solutions. She joins from RBS/Natwest transaction services where she was the solution delivery director for global trade and supply chain finance. She previously worked at Trade Finance Partners, Barclays and Cattles Invoice Finance.

According to a statement from Wyelands Bank, it has grown rapidly since it opened its doors in December 2016, with total assets rising from £24mn to more than £600mn.

Wyelands Bank’s CEO, Iain Hunter, says: “As a bank, we get to know the businesses we support in person, giving them direct and swift access to decision makers and helping them to trade, grow and create jobs. Neil and Sarah’s appointments are a very real demonstration of that commitment, complementing and strengthening our team.”