Together appoints highly-experienced banker as national development director

Together has hired commercial financial expert Joanne Fletcher to support the lender’s ambitious growth plans across the UK.

Joanne, who worked for Natwest Bank for more than three decades – giving her a wealth of knowledge and in the financial services sector – joined Together last month.

In her new role, she will be responsible for building an extensive network of experienced former corporate and commercial bankers, harnessing their vast experience to introduce business to the lender and to enhance Together’s brand across all UK regions.

Joanne said: “I’m excited to be joining Together at such a pivotal time not only for the group but for the specialist lending industry.

“There is currently a gap in the provision of property finance to would-be borrowers such as SMEs as well as property operators and investors and Together has always had a ‘can-do’ attitude when it comes to successfully navigating often complex commercial finance deals, so is in a great place to fill this gap.

“We’ve already created a network of introducers who have a huge amount of experience and strong relationships with commercial customers across the UK and are looking to build on this through further investing in our programme. This network will involve former commercial and corporate bankers who really understand Together’s brand and can go out into the market place and build connections, so it makes perfect common sense to tap into their expertise.”

Having joined NatWest as a 16-year-old office junior, she worked her way through the clerical grades, becoming an assistant manager at her local branch aged just 23. Joanne, an Associate of Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB) later ran teams of regional managers in the North West.

Before joining Together, which has a loan book of £4.4billion, she managed a team of ten commercial relationship managers. Joanne will report to Sean Williams, head of professional sector, at Together.

He said: “It’s great to be able to welcome Joanne to maximise opportunities in line with our ambitious five-year growth strategy. Her reputation and background speak for themselves, and we believe her passion for the industry will really drive forward our business by delivering flexible finance which meets the ambitions of new corporate and professional clients up and down the country.”