The new employees at the challenger bank hold almost 50 years of combined banking experience between them.

Nicola Blake (pictured above, second left) has joined as business development officer for the South and East region after previously working at Barclays.

Redwood’s head office-based credit team also welcomes three new credit operations officers: Andrew Doherty (left), Carly Nutkins (centre) and Athan Polydoros (second right).

Andrew joins from the Financial Ombudsman Service while Carly has worked across a number of areas within the RBS group.

Meanwhile, Athan arrives from Tesco PLC where he was a credit officer in its property team.

Redwood’s commercial team has also welcomed recently-graduated Tom Worbey to support the growth in lending.

The five hires take Redwood’s total number of employees to over 50 and Gary Wilkinson, CEO and co-founder of Redwood, said he could not wait for the new recruits to play a key part in the bank’s development.

“They bring with them a wealth of experience, a palpable enthusiasm for the growth of Redwood Bank and a desire to make a real difference for our customers.

“We’re looking forward to embedding them all within the Redwood Bank family.

“As we approach our first year of trading, I’m proud of what we’ve achieved and I’m confident all five new staff members will be pivotal in helping the achievement of our ambitions for the year ahead and beyond.”