A new chief executive has been appointed for a North West based mutual bank.
Dave Burke, of Bolton, who is a highly experienced financial services executive, has joined co-operative society NW Mutual Ltd.
It was launched in response to the mass closures of traditional bank branches in the region and is aiming to offer dedicated service to people, businesses and organisations across the North West – including in Cumbria.
The firm is aiming to provide around 60 hi-tech and staffed physical branches across the North West. It will also offer mobile and online banking and will serve retail and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers.
Dave has an extensive background in launching, building and managing regulated businesses and he has held senior roles at high street banks and retailers while also providing strategic consultancy services to major organisations seeking to enter financial services.
Dave returned to his native North West after spending nearly a decade in London as chief commercial officer of financial services with The Very Group before co-founding financial services consultancy Callemott Ltd.
He said: “It’s an enormous privilege to be charged with sharing the prosperity and power that a bank creates with the people who create it.
“Our market research, supported by a large body of public research and information, shows that there’s a real need and demand for a bank that is trustworthy, democratic, ethical, deeply rooted in the north west and that enough people and businesses in the region would use to make it a great success.
“The north west is more than capable and large enough to create and sustain a prosperous bank. When we achieve our goals, our mutual bank will recycle more than £900m of money from the north west back into the region.
“This is serious money and it’s already here but it’s not. We want to stop it leaking out and heading south, north or east.”
David Milner, chair of NW Mutual Ltd, is an executive and non-executive director of regulated financial services companies, including being chairman of Dudley Building Society and Nottingham Imperial Building Society, where he negotiated a merger with Newcastle Building Society.
He said: “I’ve been involved in the mutual world for over 50 years and remain committed to mutuality as the best model for financial services. I believe that the region will benefit greatly from NW Mutual and I am very pleased to add my skills and experience to make NW Mutual a reality.
“Dave brings a wealth of experience and expertise to spearhead our drive to deliver a mutual bank owned by its customers, keeping the money of the north west safe and working for the region.
NW Mutual Ltd is already registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, regulator of financial services firms and markets in the UK and David is now preparing a banking licence application to submit to the Bank of England in late 2025.
If the licence is granted by the Bank of England, the first physical branch is planned to open in the third quarter of 2026, with a full roll-out proposed for the first quarter of 2027.
A total of £1 million in investment has been made to build the systems and financial model of NW Mutual, prepare the banking license application and analysing its market.
David and Dave are supported by NW Mutual Ltd non-executive director James Moore, bringing more than 25 years of boardroom experience with private and public businesses in sectors including financial services in the UK, China, Europe and Africa while also founding the Community Savings Bank Association.
They are also in the process of recruiting other senior executives to the board of NW Mutual including a finance director.
