Chief Executive's Report
Since the creation of Masthaven Bank we have been committed to meeting the real and individual needs of customers in our chosen lending and savings markets. This eschews the one-size-fits-all approach by giving customers a Banking service they value, recognising that a modern Bank has to embrace the diversity of both the customers it serves and the people that work in the business.
There is a quote from the US President Franklin D Roosevelt that we relate to at Masthaven; ‘’Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort’’. During the last year there has been plenty of creative effort, tangible achievement and therefore joy for both the customers of Masthaven and our Masthaven colleagues. This is evident in the customer Net Promoter Score of +65 and 83% engagement score that came out of annual staff survey.
The Strategic Report provides the results that have been achieved in the year to 30 April 2018 and a business overview. However, this period was all about building on the platform established from our safe launch and delivering what customers actually need for every Masthaven customer. This philosophy of growth, one customer at a time is critical to me because I truly believe that the experience of every customer with Masthaven matters. I’m delighted therefore that at the end of April we had grown our numbers of customers to 11,772 (April 2017: 5,940) and, that by the end of July 2018 this was 14,313.
We’ve expanded our product range by introducing first charge residential and BTL mortgages whilst also continuing to innovate our bridging finance products. In the coming months we’ll be launching our highly rated savings products to business customers and a range of commercial bridging products.
Whilst we embrace technology one of the founding tenets of our philosophy is people, we like to treat people as individuals – both our customers and our staff – choosing to see the human being behind applications. It is great therefore that 20% of our savings customers are using the flexible savings account that allows savers, not their Bank, to choose when their account matures and we’ve helped 1,985 borrowers with a range of diverse requirements through our flexible lending solutions.
Today different most definitely doesn’t mean risky, different just means human. It’s this ethos that helped the Bank to secure the award as the UK’s ‘Most Innovative Digital Retail Bank’ (Capital Finance International CFI.co). All of us at Masthaven continue to be excited by the opportunity we have to redefine modern Banking for our lending customers, their intermediaries and our savings customers.
Andrew Bloom
Chief Executive
16 August 2018