Leading building society, The Cumberland, is poised for growth in its commercial lending division with the appointment of Scott McKerracher as Head of Commercial.
With 35 years’ industry experience, most recently as Scotland Area Director Commercial Banking for Lloyds Banking Group, Scott has extensive corporate and commercial banking leadership experience which will enable him to grow The Cumberland’s specialist hospitality lending division.
“In the financial services sector, I believe how you treat your customers and staff is critical, and providing exceptional service is at the heart of that,” said Scott McKerracher. “I was keen to join a company that shared these values while boasting exciting growth ambitions and The Cumberland was the perfect fit. Its strong service-led and community-oriented approach to all that they do has been exemplified through their support for their hospitality customers, most of whom are continuing to face the challenges brought about by Covid-19.
“I’m very much looking forward to joining The Cumberland as it continues to support its existing commercial customers, while helping to grow its commercial book beyond its Cumbria base.”
In his new role, Scott, from Larbert, will be focused on supporting The Cumberland’s existing customers through the remaining stages of the pandemic, building a relationship management model for the business, expanding the team by recruiting experienced relationship bankers and starting to grow the commercial book by acquiring new hospitality customers.
Alex Windle, Chief Customer Officer at The Cumberland, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Scott to the team. He brings a wealth of experience to bolster our existing in-house expertise, and will be instrumental in engaging with customers, brokers, professional introducers and industry leaders to identify how we can best help businesses and the sector survive and thrive.
“As a specialist lender to hospitality businesses, we have witnessed the huge challenge and burden placed on the sector since the start of the pandemic. Our teams continue to act as trusted advisors to our hospitality and business customers throughout the UK, not just regarding mortgages but with the much broader issues they may be facing. We are looking forward to Scott building on these foundations to ensure our commercial customers continue to receive the support and guidance they have come to rely on this past year.”
About The Cumberland
Established in 1850, The Cumberland is Cumbria’s largest financial institution with 34 branches across Cumbria, South West Scotland, North Lancashire and Northumberland.
The Society offers award-winning mortgages for residential and commercial borrowers and banking services for both personal and business use, and also operates Borderway Finance, a vehicle finance subsidiary.
In January 2020, The Cumberland launched a new brand proposition – Brighter Banking; a vision to stand apart in the financial services industry by providing exceptional customer experiences and a commitment to making a genuinely positive difference to its communities, its customers and its people.
As part of this, The Cumberland made a landmark decision to increase the amount it donated to charitable and community groups to 1.5 percent of net profits, placing it in the top two percent globally of the world’s large businesses that donate at such a level.
As a result, more than £200,000 was distributed to good causes across the region over the 2019 financial year, an increase of over 30 percent on the previous year. https://www.cumberland.co.uk/
