United Trust Bank appoints Julian Mellors as Head of Block & Wholesale Funding

United Trust Bank (UTB) is continuing to develop and diversify its Asset Finance offering with the appointment of Julian Mellors in the new role of Head of Block & Wholesale Funding.

Julian has worked in the asset finance industry for over 30 years carrying out senior roles with lenders including BNP Paribas, Leasing Solutions, Syscap and Wesleyan Bank.

In the latter, he set up the Bank’s Block Discounting business in 2020 and had oversight of many first line functions including wholesale finance, credit, collections, financial crime and legal, and was deputy to the Director of Operations.

In his new role at UTB, Julian will be focusing on building and launching the Bank’s new Block Discounting & Wholesale Funding proposition. UTB aims to create differentiation in product, service and flexibility. Julian is reporting to Head of Asset Finance, Nathan Mollett, and the Bank aims to introduce its new proposition to the market in the first half of 2023.

United Trust Bank’s Asset Finance business has delivered significant growth in the last two years including a 142% increase in new business completed in 2021. It continues to develop its offering and its team has made several senior appointments in the last year including that of Jon Phillips as Head of Credit.

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

Nathan Mollett, Head of Asset Finance – United Trust Bank, commented: “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 AF business. This is an exciting time at UTB, 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.”