Team leave Deloitte to help lead innovation in business banking

Two leading figures at Deloitte have left their roles at the business services giant to join the Board of aspiring challenger bank, Beyond Funding – a new-start business covering the UK which hopes to “start a movement to redefine the way banks work with their business customers”.

Ravi Sharma, an ACA qualified accountant with 14 years experience across Corporate Finance, Restructuring, Performance Improvement and Commercial Refinance, will become Beyond’s Corporate Finance Director and oversee the company’s go-to-market strategy as well as deliver strategic support services to its SME client base at no cost.

Vic Herd, an Advisory Board member of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management and former national lead for Deloitte’s Receivable Management team, joins the Board as Value Director, delivering cash management, recruitment, system and infrastructure support for client businesses free of charge.

This marks the start of Beyonds “full service” model that looks to deploy an array of support services to its clients to compliment the working capital and asset finance lending products the business provides.

Beyond Funding was founded by Cheshire-based accountant, Max Ward (formerly of GE, Barclays and Aldermore) and has received investment from entrepreneur, Shaun Morley. The remaining members of the Investment Board are Adam Turner (Business colleague of Shaun) and Phil Travis (Business advisor).

The proposition will target growing SMEs and businesses under transition (i.e. acquisitions, turnaround etc), as well as those companies looking for the high levels of client service.

Mr Ward said: “We are incredibly excited to have Ravi and Vic join the day one team. Not only do these roles not exist in our traditional competitors, we are unique in building a bank around people that come from outside banking. We believe that in order to deliver something different, you need a different structure, different people and a company wide culture to want to deliver. At Beyond Funding lending may pay our bills but it’s the impact our support services can have that we are passionate about. We think business owners up and down the country have suffered from a lack of support for decades now – our model aims to enable those keen to grow or turnaround their business”.

The Board of Beyond is comprised of 7 people. In addition to Ward there is Ravi Sharma (ex-Deloitte), Vic Herd (ex-Deloitte), Sarah Barker (ex-Aldermore), Andrew Townsend (ex-Beacon), Nick Slack (ex-Aldermore) and Matt McDermott (ex-Metro).

Beyond Funding, which is based in the Deansgate area of Manchester, can be reached through their website www.beyondfunding.co.uk and will be active in the media through the coming year as they look to develop the brand.