The Intermediary – August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 55
I N T E RV I E W
strategic partners, that journey won’t last
very long.”
Future-focused iteration
Even with the clear success of the past few
years, Bateman is willing to admit that there
have been hard lessons learned along the way.
The new leadership was formed of people
who had experience in transformation, with
a “let’s get on with it” approach that has
served them well. In hindsight, however,
Bateman believes more time could have been
spent ensuring that staff understood why the
changes needed to happen.
Subsequent profitability has been the proof
in the pudding, but better communication
might have secured buy-in earlier.
One difficult decision was to close the
Manchester office and move it to Milton
Keynes. This has increased collaboration with
the London HQ, and the bank is reaping the
rewards. Nevertheless, this affected a large
number of employees.
Bateman says: “Unfortunately, one of
the challenges you have when overseeing a
business is making those tough decisions.”
His response, as with everything, is not to
dwell on the past, but to examine, assess, fix
and iterate.
“Something I learned very early on in my
career, is that you should treat people with
respect when they arrive at the organisation,
and when they leave,” Bateman continues.
“Ensure that those that do leave, do so with
their heads held high.”
He explains that, while the specialist finance
market has grown considerably, it is still a
relatively small, close-knit community. While
competitive, this market thrives because “there
are lots of specialist lenders out there offering
great solutions and great services.”
“We are all ultimately trying to do the same
thing, which is offer borrowers solutions,”
Bateman adds.
That value of having a diverse set of lenders
catering for borrowers’ needs means that
Recognise Bank, for all its aspirations of
growth, has no ambition to become a 500 or
600 person behemoth.
“We don’t believe that we need to massively
increase the number of staff in order to
increase our efficiency and ability to lend,”
Bateman explains.
Instead, he sees a company that is
proportionately sized, enabled by carefully
curated technology and AI, as well as wellplanned processes and decision-making
structures, as the sweet spot.
Achieving growth in this way, he adds, comes
down to “the attitude of the executive team.”
“We’ll hold each other accountable to
ensure that we remain proportionate in terms
of the governance and control frameworks,”
Bateman explains.
“We don’t want to end up bogging
ourselves down in red tape and governance,
which then stops our ability to react to the
market – or to go out and look at a product or
an M&A opportunity.”
Recognise now faces a new cultural
challenge. Some people thrive in startups,
others prefer an established business, and
transferring between the two stages can call
for a different mindset.
Bateman knows he may lose good people
as a result, but as much as possible, wants to
convince them that the growth stage is worth
staying for.
“That comes down to communication, clarity
of message, and clarity of strategy,” he says.
With that in mind, Bateman looks ahead to
the next three to five years with optimism.
While the environment may remain volatile and
hard to predict, those with the right processes
in place will be able to push through.
Products and processes are not enough
alone, however. Awareness is key. With all the
hard work being done by specialist lenders to
provide innovative solutions, these are only as
good as the perception of the market.
Bateman explains: “The last thing any of us
want is for the growth in the UK, especially in
the specialist lending and development space,
to dry up because there is a perception that
there isn’t any funding out there.
“As long as the company maintains its
flexibility to react, it will be successful,”
he concludes. “Those companies that are
unable to do the horizon scanning, looking at
what’s coming forward from a political and a
geopolitical scenario, will fail. There’s no two
ways about it.
“You’ve got to accept that we’re in a very
changing, very volatile market.
“Because of that, making sure that borrowers
are aware that there are solutions out there is
going to be critical.”
The most interesting measure of Recognise’s
transformation may ultimately not be how
large the bank becomes, then, but whether
it can grow without becoming the “little big
bank” that Bateman wants to avoid.
The next phase will test the very model that
delivered its turnaround, proving whether
decisiveness, proportionality and borrower-led
specialism can survive scale.
August 2026 | The Intermediary
53
