The Intermediary – August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 53
I N T E RV I E W
We will continue to evolve our
product set, we’ll continue to work
with the broker community, and we’ll
continue to work with our strategic
partners to look at what products
they’re missing, and how we can find
a way to find a solution”
“If it looks like it works, let’s check that it
actually does.
“We looked at everything – every single
process, structure, report, governance
meeting, forum. How do we communicate
internally? What are the messages, what’s
the strategy? How are we going to approach
this business?”
The bank’s risk framework was reviewed and
changed because, while not fundamentally
wrong, it was deemed disproportionate to
the business.
Meanwhile, unused tech was switched off,
unnecessary supplier contracts terminated,
and missing or underused frameworks were
put firmly into place or refreshed.
Beneath it all was the understanding
that Recognise was not on the path to
becoming just another “little big bank,” but
instead wanted to maintain the agility and
adaptability that Bateman sees as one of its key
selling points.
Transformation turning point
The 2024/25 financial year was primarily
about laying foundations for future growth.
While reporting £5.3m in losses during the
period, Bateman points out that this is a vast
improvement compared with the year before,
and part of a steady positive trajectory.
The transformation strategy has
been focused on steady and controlled
improvement, rather than, in Bateman’s words,
wanting to “blow the doors off.”
On a practical level, this involved relaunching
bridging, reducing costs and improving
structural efficiency. Originally, the target was
to “break even” in September 2025. When the
bank reached that goal months early in May
2025, the mentality shifted to “we’ve done it
now, we can’t go backwards.”
Bateman stresses that the work is “by no
means done,” and says the approach now is
to “accelerate that steady growth and take
advantage of our flexibility.”
One of the next steps in this process is a
move into regulated bridging, a market with
“the capacity for additional lenders to join,”
providing a good opportunity for Recognise
Bank to expand and diversify.
The bank also relaunched its commercial real
estate product earlier this year.
Bateman suggests that there is likely to be a
level of consolidation in the specialist market,
due to constraints in the capital available to
smaller lenders.
Now that Recognise has set its course
straight once again, the right acquisition may
well be part of its future growth strategy.
Bateman adds: “We will continue to evolve
our product set, we’ll continue to work with
the broker community, and we’ll continue to
work with our strategic partners to look at
what products they’re missing, and how we can
find a way to find a solution.”
The bank aims for lending decisions to be
made as fast and decisively as possible, as soon
as all the necessary information is available,
rather than being passed through five or
six committees.
The same principle applies to deposits – if
the bank needs funding to support its lending,
then waiting too long to react could mean the
market has already moved on.
“If we’ve got to react quickly to bring in the
right level of deposits to fund the lending side
of the book, then we’ve got to be able to make
decisions instantly,” says Bateman.
“We’ve got to be able to look at it from a
risk perspective, a balancing perspective, an
exposure perspective, and then get on with it.
“If you lose that ability, by the time you’ve
reacted and made your move in the market, it’s
too late.”
This is not about removing governance
structures, Bateman explains: “It’s that we
have proportionate governance.
“We have a very robust risk framework,
which has been refreshed over the past 12 to
18 months.
“We have very robust decision forums. The
way in which the information is presented is to
get to a decision, not just to have a discussion.
That’s the key.
“Obviously there’s a massive spotlight now
from the regulators on ensuring that there isn’t
another MFS bubbling away in the background.
“[The PRA has] confidence that Recognise
Bank is now in a space where they would
expect a small specialist lender to be, and it’s
not on the watch list.” →
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