Exclusive: OakNorth adds ex-Federal Reserve Bank of New York exec to its advisory board

Lending software giant OakNorth will today announce the appointment of Bruce T. Richards to its advisory board, AltFi can exclusively reveal.

Richards is the former senior vice president and head of supervision for complex financial institutions at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“OakNorth is uniquely positioned to work with banks to increase the efficiency and risk management of lending to small to mid-market companies which generate the majority of new jobs and economic growth,” said Richards, who is also chair of the board of Credit Suisse Holdings USA and on the advisory boards of Credit Benchmark and Corsair Capital.

His appointment, which will be announced later today, comes just after the recent addition of Jeremiah Norton to the advisory board also, Norton being a former board member at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the addition of former UK chancellor Philip Hammond to the board at the start of the year.

Norton and Richards will work with OakNorth’s executive team in the US to drive growth in the group’s credit intelligence technology, which has already been adopted by several US banking institutions including Customers Bancorp, Modern Bank and PNC Bank.

“Bruce not only has extensive regulatory experience, but also very strong industry experience. Having worked in corporate and commercial banking for over 30 years, he has a unique combination of skills which will be invaluable to our Advisory Board,” said OakNorth co-founder Rishi Khosla.

“He joins us at a pivotal time for the business—our software is now being licensed by dozens of banks globally, including some of the world’s largest players such as PNC and SMBC.”

OakNorth has also been growing its US team, including with the addition of a new chief marketing officer, Jessica Reiter, and vice president of customer success, Anya Darrow, just last month.

Last month Japanese commercial lending giant Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) also signed on as a client of OakNorth, and also secured a $30m stake in the business via a secondary share sale.