B-North, the Manchester-based firm building an SME lending bank for the UK, has appointed Nimisha Patel to the board as an Independent Non-Executive Director (NED).

Nimisha brings almost 20 years’ experience in Technology, Transformation and Risk Management for some of the biggest names in professional services to B-North. Last year Computer Weekly named Nimisha as their Chief Information Officer of the year. Nimisha is currently the Chief Digital Information Officer at the Cabinet Office, responsible for helping to shape the technology strategy at the centre of Government. As required by her role, B-North will serve as Nimisha’s only NED position.

Before joining the Cabinet Office, Nimisha was the UK and International Chief Information Officer (CIO) at leading FTSE 100 listed insurer RSA. In this role she was tasked with shaping the region’s IT strategy and services necessary to run the firm’s £3.1 billion portfolio, managing a large global team. Before she was appointed as CIO, Nimisha served as the company’s Director of Technology & Operations Risk Management.

In addition to her experience as a CIO, Nimisha has experience leading IT Audit and Technology Risk practices for Financial Services. At PwC, Nimisha led the IT Internal Audit practice across Insurance and Investment Management. Before this, Nimisha worked at KPMG for 6 years as a Senior Manager, leading a number IT Risk and Consulting engagements in Financial Services.

Nimisha began her career at General Electric, starting on the firm’s leadership program, before rising to IT Programme Manager. Nimisha holds a BS in Decision and Information Science from the University of Florida.

Nimisha said: “As a lifelong technology specialist, I am so pleased to be joining the board of B-North. B-North shares my passion for technology and the way that intelligent use of new solutions can bring significant benefits to customers. I look forward to working with the company as they work to secure their banking licence and move towards delivering lending to the SMEs of the UK.”

Nimisha joins B-North as the firm accelerates towards securing its banking licence and completing its £20 million ‘Series A’ fundraise. The firm aims to disrupt the UK’s £150 billion SME lending market by establishing the first truly regional lending bank in 150 years. Through its network of regional ‘lending pods’ combined with a state-of-the-art cloud-based banking system, B-North aims to deliver loans to business 10x faster than the industry standard.

Ron Emerson CBE, Chair of B-North, added: “I am absolutely delighted that Nimisha is joining the B-North board. At the core of any successful business are its people and Nimisha is another excellent addition to the team, further deepening B-North’s rich pool of talent.

With Nimisha’s extensive expertise in technology, and its role in financial services, she brings a critical complementary set of skills to the business.”

Jonathan Thompson, CEO of B-North, further added: “First and foremost B-North is a people business, yet we rely on market-leading cloud-native technology to unlock our unique regional model and raise the bar in the provision of finance to SMEs. With that in mind, Nimisha’s appointment is perfectly aligned to our strategy and I’m deligh,ted to have someone of her calibre joining our Board at this exciting point in our journey.”