Board Appointments

05 September 2017

Charter Court Financial Services (“Charter Court”), the specialist mortgage bank and owner of Precise Mortgages, Charter Savings Bank and Exact Mortgage Experts brands, has appointed Sir Malcolm Williamson as Chairman of its Board and Noël Harwerth as Senior Independent Non-Executive Director.

Sir Malcolm Williamson has a long and distinguished executive and non-executive career in the financial services sector which includes positions as Chairman, Deputy Chairman or Senior Independent Director with a range of companies including AVIVA PLC, Friends Life Group PLC, Britannic Group, Resolution PLC, National Australia Bank and JP Morgan Cazenove among others. He is currently Chairman of Newday Group Limited, Chairman of the Governing Council of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Youth Business International.

Noël Harwerth has extensive non-executive experience having chaired risk, audit and remuneration committees, in addition to holding Senior Independent Director positions at a range of companies within financial services and other sectors. She is Chairman of the UK Export Finance agency and serves on the board of the UK Department of International Trade. She is a Non-Executive Director of Standard Life plc, The London Metal Exchange, Sirius Minerals Plc and serves as Senior Independent Director on the board of CHAPS Clearing Company Ltd.

After serving on the Board for eight years, Philip Jenks will take on the role of Deputy Chairman. With over 40 years’ experience in the financial services and mortgage industries, Philip joined the business as Non-Executive Director in 2009 and was appointed Chairman in 2015 to support the launch of Charter Court’s banking operation.

Ian Ward will step down from the role of Senior Independent Director but will remain a Non-Executive Director. Ian has contributed to the company significantly over the four years since he joined in 2013 after 16 years as Chief Executive Officer of Leeds Building Society. He will continue to bring his wealth of experience to the group, chairing Remuneration and Nominations Committees and serving on the Risk and Audit Committees. In addition, Non-Executive Directors Timothy Brooke and Rajan Kapoor are appointed as Chairmen, respectively, of the Risk Committee and of the Audit and Models and Ratings Committees.

Commenting on the appointments, Ian Lonergan, CEO of Charter Court, said:

“The appointments of Sir Malcolm and Noël mark another key milestone in the continuing growth and development of Charter Court and reflect the evolving scale and status of our business. I am delighted that we have been able to attract individuals of their experience and calibre. I am delighted that both Philip Jenks and Ian Ward have agreed to remain on the Board and we will continue to benefit from their wise counsel and unrivalled experience.”