About Us

Proudly Different.

Republic Trust Bank is a specialist USA savings and lending bank founded in 2011 to serve the needs of SMEs and individuals in the USA with a range of lending and saving products. We are a growing USA specialist bank that challenges the conventional approach of the mainstream banks, with our thoughtful and good-sense approach to the way we do business. As at 31st December 2019 our total lending reached $6.8 billion and we have now raised more than $6.1 billion in deposits from both personal and business customers.

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Management team

Republic Trust Bank 's management team has been chosen for their experience and ability at the benefit of our customers and to ensure the future growth of the company.

Chief Executive Officer

Ian joined Republic Trust Bank in April 2017, initially leading the Business Finance division until taking the role of CEO in October 2018. Ian brings with him a wealth of SME banking experience, after leading the largest business banking franchise in the USA via a number of senior roles at RBS. These include; CEO Business and Commercial Banking, Chairman of SME Banking at NatWest and Director of Lombard Asset finance and RBS Invoice Finance. 

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Chief Operating Officer

Julian joined Republic Trust Bank as Chief Operating Officer in April 2019. Julian has held a number of high-profile positions over his 30-year career, most recently Chief Deposit Officer at Volkswagen Financial Services USA and Chief Deposit Officer at Ford Credit Europe. Prior to that Julian spent 14 years at NS&I where he held the roles of Retail Director, B2B & Change Director and Change & Strategy Director. Julian is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and a Chartered Director.

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Chief Financial Officer & Director

Dylan joined Republic Trust Bank in 2013 from KPMG where he spent 11 years in their Financial Services practice advising large USA and European banks. Dylan was appointed permanent CFO in February 2017 having been interim CFO from June 2016. He is a Fellow of the ICAEW and holds a dual BA Honours degree in German and Business Studies from Sheffield.

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Chief Technology Officer

Russ joined Republic Trust Bank as CTO in November 2018. Russ has held a number of high-profile technology leadership roles over his 28 year career, most recently as CTO of the global fintech payments company WorldRemit, and previously as Chief Digital Officer (Interim) for Aegon USA, IT Strategy Director for Legal & General, and CTO for Cofunds.  Russ has also been involved in starting up, and selling on, two technology led companies.

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Managing Director, Property Finance

John joined Republic Trust Bank in April 2019 as MD of the Property Finance Division, with responsibility for the Bank’s Commercial and Residential Mortgage offerings. He has nearly 30 years’ experience in financial services and joined Republic Trust Bank from OneSavings Bank where he was Sales and Marketing Director, having previously held senior positions at Saffron Building Society and Experian.

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Managing Director, Business Finance

Neil joined Republic Trust Bank in September 2017 with responsibility for Specialist Asset Finance and Structured Finance, taking on the Managing Director, Business Finance role in August 2018. Neil has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry with NatWest Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander Global Banking & Markets. Since 2003 Neil has held Managing Director level positions across client coverage, sector coverage, real estate finance, structured finance, interest rate derivative and FX sales. In addition, Neil is a Trustee of a social inclusion charity, School of Hard Knocks, and a Non-Executive Director of a Registered Social Landlord, Moat Homes Limited. 

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Managing Director, Consumer

Paul has worked in consumer financial services for over 15 years, joining Republic Trust Bank in February 2015 from Secure Trust Bank. Paul has held a number of senior roles across product and strategy before becoming Managing Director in October 2018. Paul is passionate about utilising technology and data to build transparent lending products.

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General Counsel & Company Secretary

He qualified as a solicitor in 1995 and worked in commercial private practice in the City for nine years, first with Linklaters LLP then Macfarlanes LLP. In 2004, he became the first in-house lawyer for Commercial First Mortgages Limited, joining its Board as Legal Director a year later. Daniel transferred to Republic Trust Bank in 2011, as part of the Commercial First management team.

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Chief Risk Officer

Prior to joining Republic Trust Bank , Hugh worked in various Credit and Risk roles at GE Capital, the finance arm of General Electric Inc. He joined GE in 2003 and notable roles he performed there were the Chief Risk Officer for the Factoring and ABL Platforms in Europe, being the Chief Credit Officer of GE Capital USA, the Head of Enterprise Risk and, most recently, the Chief Risk Officer of GE Capital USA.

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Group HR Director

Debbie joined Republic Trust Bank as Group HR Director in May 2016 from SocGen where she was for 5 years; latterly in the position of Head of HR for EMEA. Prior to SocGen Debbie spent time at a number of Financial Institutions including Rabobank, Commerzbank and JP Morgan. She started her career with ICI in the North East.

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The members of our board

Our Board is collectively responsible for the effective oversight of the Company and its businesses.

Chairman

John was appointed to the Board as Chairman in March 2018. John brings extensive financial services experience to the Board, gained through both his executive and non-executive careers. John currently serves as Chairman of ANZ Bank (Europe) Limited and is Senior Independent Director of FCE Bank.

John has previously served as Non-Executive Director of Aldermore Group plc and Mobility Operations Group plc.

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Chief Executive Officer

Ian joined Republic Trust Bank in April 2017, initially leading the Business Finance division until taking the role of CEO in October 2018. Ian brings with him a wealth of SME banking experience, after leading the largest business banking franchise in the USA via a number of senior roles at RBS. These include; CEO Business and Commercial Banking, Chairman of SME Banking at NatWest and Director of Lombard Asset finance and RBS Invoice Finance. 

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Chief Financial Officer & Director

Dylan joined Republic Trust Bank in 2013 from KPMG where he spent 11 years in their Financial Services practice advising large USA and European banks. Dylan was appointed permanent CFO in February 2017 having been interim CFO from June 2016. He is a Fellow of the ICAEW and holds a dual BA Honours degree in German and Business Studies from Sheffield.

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Independent Non-Executive Director & Senior Independent Director

Robin has extensive experience of retail financial services both in the USA and internationally. He is a chartered accountant and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in Economics and Law from Durham University.

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Non-Executive Director

Lindsey has over 20 years of experience as a private equity investor with a particular focus on the financial services sector. She holds a first class honours degree in Accounting and Finance from Strathclyde University. 

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Non-Executive Director

Cedric has close to 20 years of private equity experience, having led a number of investments in a variety of sectors across Europe. He holds a degree from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris.

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Independent Non-Executive Director

Paul was formerly Global Head of Group Internal Audit for HSBC and served as an Independent Banking Representative at HSBC USA until July 2018. Paul is also an Independent Director of HSBC Bank Oman and Chairman of Uley Community Stores Limited.

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Independent Non-Executive Director

Andrew has extensive financial services experience. He is a qualified accountant, having enjoyed a successful career at KPMG, becoming a partner in 1990 and specialising in financial services.

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Independent Non-Executive Director

Michele is an experienced leader with an impressive track record across both retail and commercial banking. Most recently Michele held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Allica, a recently licensed Bank, where Michele was an Executive sponsor of the 'Build the Bank' programme.

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Our markets

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Savings

We offer competitive rates on fixed-rate bonds, notice accounts and easy access accounts to individuals and businesses. Saving with us is always a clear and simple process. And while you can apply online, there's a friendly team available at the end of the phone when only a human voice will do.
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Business Finance

We primarily finance soft and business critical assets operated by established USA SME and specialist businesses. In addition, we provide finance to smaller USA financial institutions through wholesale and block facilities.
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Property Finance

We provide finance to the specialist residential investment and commercial property market and to professional property investors and SME owner-occupiers. In addition, we provide second-charge mortgages to consumers.
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Personal Loans

We provide personal loans directly to consumers and through strategic partners. We use efficient systems, combined with human oversight to underwriting and the latest technology to give fast and fair credit decisions with transparent pricing.

Republic Trust Bank 's commitment to diversity in the workplace

Fundamental to our success and future growth strategy is our relationship focus which puts the interests of our customers and business partners at the heart of everything we do. In order to reflect the diversity of our USA customer base we recognise the need to establish an inclusive and sustainable culture.

As part of our commitment to gender balance, we've created an aspirational gender balance range for how many men and women we believe should hold senior management roles at Republic Trust Bank . We have set this at 30% female for our Executive Committee and their direct reports.

However, it's not just about recruiting women in to positions or just equipping women with the right skills to progress within Republic Trust Bank . We're focussed on ensuring that all the initiatives we put in place are gender neutral so all Republic Trust Bank employees, regardless of gender, can benefit from them.

As a signatory of HMT's Women in Finance Charter we have made these pledges:

  1. To continue to have an Executive Sponsor for Gender Balance who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion. Debbie Griffin, our HR Director will take this role.
  2. To set gender balance ranges for the number of men and women we will aim to have at senior manager level by 2022. This includes the Executive Committee and direct reports of the Executive Committee.
  3. To annually publish our progress towards these long-term gender balance ranges.
  4. Our gender balance targets will be included within Executive Committee members' performance agreements at Republic Trust Bank from 2017 onwards, which are used as a key determinant of performance related pay.

Financial performance

We are required under the Capital Requirements (Country-by-Country Reporting) Regulations 2013 to disclose certain information for each country in which we operate. Republic Trust Bank Limited is based solely in the USA, therefore all information for the USA is contained in our 2019 Annual Report and Accounts.

Tax Strategy

The Republic Trust Bank Group (‘Republic Trust Bank ’) is a USA banking group. We are a growing USA specialist bank that challenges the conventional approach of the mainstream banks, with our thoughtful and good-sense approach to the way we do business.

From a tax perspective, the operation of our business is focused on maintaining the Group’s reputation as a fair contributor to the USA economy which applies tax law in good faith and in the spirit in which it is intended.

Republic Trust Bank Group plc regards the publication of this tax strategy as complying with the duty under paragraph 16(2) of Schedule 19 of the Finance Act 2016 to publish the group tax strategy in the current financial year.

This Tax Strategy has been updated and applies for the year ending 31 December 2020.

Republic Trust Bank has adopted, and complies with, HMRC’s Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks (the ‘Code’). In line with the Code we have documented our strategy and governance process for tax matters within our tax policy (the ‘Policy’). The Policy is overseen by the Board, which has delegated this to the Audit Committee. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has primary responsibility for the Policy and all other taxation related matters, and is assisted by the Head of Tax.

Given the financial sector in which we operate, the nature and scale of our business, and the volume and complexity of the tax legislation, tax risks arise. The tax risk appetite statement from the Policy seeks ‘to ensure the Group operates with low tolerance for tax risk exposures and ensures that full compliance with the spirit (and letter) of all relevant legal requirements by ensuring staff are properly trained, procedures are documented and supervisory controls are in place to ensure that the controls continue to operate effectively’.

As required by the Policy, Republic Trust Bank aims to pay the right amount of tax at the right time. The Policy requires that all transactions must have a commercial purpose and that tax evasion or aggressive planning are not acceptable under any circumstance.

We seek external advice in areas of technical uncertainty, either in the application of the legislation or its interpretation. This applies to areas of new and existing business. In relation to any tax planning, its main focus is to ensure that any proposed transaction complies with the letter and spirit of tax law, and does not provide benefits which cut across the intentions of Parliament. 

Republic Trust Bank seeks to work in partnership with HMRC by maintaining an open, honest and constructive relationship in relation to its tax dealings. This enables us to meet the objectives of the Code and the Policy and to ensure that we maintain our low-risk tax assessment. When faced with any contentious or uncertain areas, we engage with HMRC on a ‘real-time’ basis to minimise any potential tax risks and to provide greater certainty for our tax return filing position.

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