Our people | Meet Mark Dolphin

Mark Dolphin, Business Development Manager (Yorkshire & the North East)

Mark Dolphin is our Business Development Manager covering Yorkshire & the North East, as well as some parts of Scotland. Mark has worked in banking for his entire career, originally working in a business-to-customer environment for a well-known High-Street bank. For the last three years, Mark has worked within, and developed a passion for, the challenger bank environment.

 

Why choose Redwood Bank and what’s been your proudest moment to date?

 

The attraction of working for a bank who is dedicated to the commercial and professional investor marketplace. I think fate brought us together – I was looking for another opportunity and they were expanding into an area which I’d covered in my previous employment. What was very important to me was that I had the ability to maintain those relationships which I’d worked tirelessly to build, which meant I already had a good established network.
 
It's difficult to pin-point just one moment in time, but having my first approval and drawdown, are obvious ones. However, generally being accepted into the Redwood family with open arms makes me proud.

 

Redwood is relatively new – what’s the feedback from customers?

 

We all know the High Street are looking for the absolute vanilla lending deals – but, invariably, given the fallout from the financial crisis, we have seen that many SMEs and investors have some sort of quirk or wrinkle in their businesses. The ability of Redwood to see beyond this has been warmly welcomed by brokers and customers alike, and the repeat levels of business is testament to this.

 

What motivates you and gets you out of bed in the morning?

 

Honestly, my alarm clock at 5:15am is a good place to start. After that, I like to go for a morning run to blow away the cobwebs, but more recently this has developed into a power walk – sign of age, maybe?!

 

Do you foresee any industry gamechangers?

 

As the regulators act to further develop competition, the future market will be increasingly varied, resulting in a very differing banking experience for customers. Open Banking will give rise to new business models, with some providers choosing to specialise in certain areas rather than offer a traditional suite of products or attempt to manage the customer’s end-to-end experience.

 

What advice would you give to someone just starting in the industry?

 

Think about steering yourself down the avenue of dealing with SMEs. There are so many variables to dealing with these businesses that make for very interesting learning. And, by adding value to them, you can, justifiably, feel that you’ve played a small part in their success.

 

And, finally, please tell us something that we don’t know?

 

I’m a season ticket holder and a keen fan of Hartlepool United. Whilst it can be a tough watch at times, and we’ve had our fair share of issues, it’s in the blood. Here’s hoping to better times ahead.