Chetwood Bank has announced the launch of its Wholesale Banking division with the appointment of Alex Grove as Managing Director of Wholesale Banking, Toby Sharp FRICS as Director of Commercial Real Estate and Nirvan Sunderam as Managing Director of Wholesale Risk.
Through the Wholesale Banking division, Chetwood Bank provides tailored funding solutions to corporate, institutional and specialist lending customers. Its role is to originate, structure and manage larger-scale lending relationships that support the bank’s strategic growth, diversify income, and make disciplined use of capital.
Grove will join Chetwood Bank’s Executive Committee and will lead the Wholesale Banking division as the UK digital challenger bank continues to build capability across structured finance, commercial real estate, and wider investment activity. Sharp will report directly to Grove, while Sunderam will lead the second-line risk function for Wholesale activities reporting into the bank’s Chief Risk Officer.
Chetwood Bank has grown to a £7 billion balance sheet, funded primarily through retail deposits, and combines retail savings with mortgage lending and Wholesale Banking activity. The bank has a £3 billion mortgage lending portfolio and lent £1 billion through active forward flow relationships in the last financial year, while also expanding to participate in structured finance markets and non-GBP assets.
The appointments bring together senior expertise across investment management, commercial real estate, market risk, and structured finance. Grove has held senior roles at Intrum, BAWAG P.S.K., and Morgan Stanley; Sharp has held senior real estate finance and securitisation roles at Hamburg Commercial Bank, BAWAG P.S.K., and Credit Suisse; and Sunderam has held senior structuring and risk roles across Bank of America, UBS, and Pemberton Capital Advisors.
Paul Noble, CEO of Chetwood Bank, said: “This is an important step for our Wholesale Banking division, giving us leadership capability that reflects the scale of the opportunity ahead and the standards we set for how we operate. Alex, Toby and Nirvan bring experience across the areas that matter most to this part of the business, from structured finance and investment management to commercial real estate and risk, and I’m confident their expertise will strengthen how we evolve and build long-term relationships with institutional partners.”
Alex Grove, Managing Director of Wholesale Banking at Chetwood Bank, said: “I am very much looking forward to working with Paul and the rest of the team. Chetwood Bank is an outstanding platform on which to build a leading wholesale business, and we intend to make the most of this opportunity.”
