He joins from Wesleyan Bank, where he was deputy to the bank’s director of operations, and helped set up its block discounting business in 2020.

He also held roles at BNP Paribas, Leasing Solutions and Syscap throughout his 30-year career.

Reporting to UTB’s head of asset finance, Nathan Mollett, Julian will be responsible for building and introducing the bank’s new block discounting and wholesale funding proposition, which is expected to launch in the first half of 2023.

Julian commented: “I’m very pleased to be given the opportunity to introduce wholesale funding activities to UTB.

“Block discounting will be the first of what will hopefully become a suite of offerings in the wholesale lending space.

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“UTB’s courage to develop at this challenging economic juncture is reflective of UTB’s enterprising culture, firmly rooted in intelligent risk management.”

Nathan added: “Julian is a hugely experienced commercial finance professional and it’s great to have someone with his credentials and breadth of knowledge across lending, risk and compliance join the business.

“He is a strong and welcome addition to the senior leadership team and the experience he gained when setting up Wesleyan’s block discounting offering will be invaluable as we aim to differentiate ourselves in the market rather than simply blend in.

“2022 has so far been another busy and record-breaking year for UTB’s asset finance business; this is an exciting time for us, and, despite some economic uncertainty, we are very well placed to support our broker partners and their clients and continue to provide the funding they need to invest and grow.

“This intention to move into the block and wholesale funding market once again demonstrates our ambition to develop and diversify our business and underlines our commitment to being a long-term player in the business finance sector.”