Hampden & Co hires former Scottish Building Society boss
The former boss of the Scottish Building Society has been appointed to a senior role at private bank Hampden & Co.
Mark Thomson has been named head of credit at the lender that said it became the first UK private bank to be set up in a quarter of a century when it launched in 2015.
Thomson – also formerly credit director at Scottish Widows Bank – brings almost four decades of banking industry experience. He is a chartered banker, a fellow of the Chartered Bankers Institute, and he chaired the Northern Association of Building Societies’ executive committee between 2017 and 2019.
He said: “I’ve always been of the opinion that every client’s individual circumstances should be a very important factor when assessing lending applications and not placing total reliance on application scoring systems employed by the vast majority of the mainstream banking sector.
“Hampden & Co is in direct contrast to the high-street banks in this area, the bank is making the right impression in the marketplace and I look forward to contributing to its ongoing success.”
Hampden & Co boss Graeme Hartop said Thomson was a key member of the senior team during his time at Scottish Widows Bank.
He added: “Mark will manage our approach to individual credit decision-making, in particular for clients with complex requirements but low risk profile – something that the high-street banks find difficult to provide by way of automation.”