Maria Harris leaves Atom bank to start a new chapter

After 5 years with Atom bank, during which time Atom became the UK’s fastest growing mortgage lender, Maria Harris has decided to start a new chapter of her career as an advisor and independent consultant to the mortgage market.

Maria will be leaving Atom this week with a view of taking up new opportunities over the summer. David Castling will take over the leadership of Atom’s intermediary lending team and will report into Stewart Bromley, Chief Operations Officer.

Mark Mullen, Chief Executive at Atom bank said: “Maria was rightly named ‘Banker of the Year’ at the Inaugural Women in Finance Awards for her achievements and impact in UK banking whilst she was at Atom.

“After five years of contributing to our success we wish Maria all the very best with her new ventures. I am delighted that we are bringing both continuity and experience to our intermediary relationships with the appointment of David Castling.”

Maria Harris said: “It’s almost impossible to capture the last 5 years in words. To design, build and launch the UK’s first fully digital mortgage has been an exhilarating and rewarding experience.

“As a local lass, the bank and the jobs that we’ve created in the North-East is something that I’m immensely proud to have been a part of and I know will create a lasting legacy for the region. I’d like to thank Mark and all of my Atom family for an amazing, crazy and emotional journey and know they’ll have every success in the future.”

After the launch of Atom’s digital mortgage offering in December 2016 the bank has now supported homebuyers in the UK with £2.4bn of lending. To find out more, visit their website at www.digitalmortgages.net.[www.digitalmortgages.net](https://www.digitalmortgages.net/).

ENDS

Note to Editors

After securing its banking license in June 2015, Atom bank launched operations in April 2016, offering market-leading Fixed Saver accounts and secured business lending for small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’). From the start, Atom set out to build a customer-driven bank, designed to meet their new needs and optimised for mobile technologies.

Atom bank launched its first mobile mortgage product in December 2016 and has taken £1.8bn in deposits and lent over £2.4bn to small businesses and homeowners.

Atom is here to change banking, creating a disruptive and digital bank, keeping costs low and passing back the value to its customers. The Atom app is at the heart of the bank, with a 24/7 support team on hand to help with any customer queries through phone, chat, email and social media, working out of their Durham HQ.

The Atom executive team are highly experienced, having built and run some of the most well-respected banks in the UK. CEO Mark Mullen has 25 years’ experience in the sector and was previously CEO at the multi- award-winning telephone and internet bank first direct. The team are supported by a strong non-exec board lead by Chairman Bridget Rosewell CBE.

Since its creation in April 2014, Atom has:

• Raised just over £400m of equity capital through the support of private and institutional investors, including BBVA, Woodford Investment Management and Toscafund Asset Management
• Built a highly motivated and experienced team of around 350 permanent employees in the North East of England
• Uniquely in the EU have been ranked in the top 10 of KPMG’s ‘Global Fintech 100’ listing for each of the last four years
• Ranked 1st in Tech World’s Digital Challengers list
• Ranked 14th in LinkedIn’s ‘Top 25 Startups’ 2017
• Voted the UK’s most recommended bank
• Industry leading customer NPS score of +76 and broker NPS score of +70
• 5 star rating and the UK’s most trusted bank on Trustpilot
• 97% of customers said they would recommend us on Reevoo
• Established a global network of partners and suppliers
• Launched 3 and 6 month and 1, 2, 3 and 5 Year market-leading Fixed Saver accounts -Atom has taken £1.8bn in deposits so far
• Launched Digital Mortgages by Atom bank, offering secured lending to SMEs and residential mortgage products - Atom has loaned over £2.4bn to date
• will.i.am joined Atom bank as a Strategic Board Advisor, giving an external perspective on culture, community and technology
• Announced a four year STEM partnership with the Prince’s Trust in North East England
• Signed up to the Women in Finance Charter in 2016 and the Tech Talent Charter in 2017
• Announced the Atom Incubator to support North East startups at their HQ in Durham
• Agreed multi-year partnership with leading fintech Thought Machine
• Listed in the top 20 best places to work in the North East
• Featured in London Stock Exchange’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain 2019