No judgement. No drama. No greenwashing BS. Just simple ways to save your pocket and the planet – in tandem.
Oplo launched in 2009 to provide fairer access to financial products for all the hardworking Britons who have been left behind by traditional high street banks and other lenders. Since then, Oplo has approved more than £1 billion of responsible lending to customers across the UK.
Launching in 2014, Tandem was one of the UK's original digital challenger banks, providing access to simple, honest, and fair mortgage and savings products.
Tandem bought Harrods Bank, which catered for high-net-worth individuals, offering a variety of current and savings accounts and mortgages.
Tandem acquired the green home improvement loan specialists Allium Lending Group.
Oplo merged with Tandem Bank, inspired by a shared mission to create a greener, digital bank for all.
In April 2023, Tandem acquired Loop, the UK’s first social network app focused exclusively on helping friends and family to easily and safely lend and borrow money with each other.
Alex has held Senior Director positions in the Credit Industry with a career spanning over 25 years. After beginning his career at Yorkshire Bank, he went on to work at Welcome Finance in Branch, Area and Regional Manager roles running 60+ Branches across Northern England and Scotland.
After a 10 year period of exceptional growth he left to found Oplo (formerly 1st Stop Group) in 2004, and has overseen the business's last 15 years of expansion.
David joined in January 2023 as Tandem’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). David has over 23 years’ experience in CFO and senior financial roles for Atom Bank, Britannia Building Society, Co-Op Bank and Bank of Ireland. David is a member of both the Bank’s Board and Executive Committee.
Suavek is a visionary technology leader with a proven track record of scaling companies and developing innovative platforms. With a strong foundation as a software engineer, Suavek has risen through the ranks from developer to enterprise architect to CTO, driving transformative growth at companies like Grand Parade, William Hill, and Railsr.
He is passionate about leveraging his creativity and technical knowledge to solve real-world customer problems.
As CTO at Tandem Bank, Suavek is committed to applying his skills in building scalable systems and leading high-caliber teams to support Tandem's green mission of making it easier for more people to live a greener lifestyle.
Wahid joined Tandem in December 2022, as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) as a member of Tandem’s Executive Committee. Wahid has 20years' risk management experience from across the banking sector including holding senior positions at Barclays, RBS, Al Rayan Bank, and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA).
Paul has a proven track record of transforming business operating models to deliver service excellence and optimisation.
With 25 years’ experience of working within UK regulated businesses across insurance and financial services, Paul has held leadership roles within, Aon, Capita, Lloyds Banking Group, Legal & General, Target and Allium Money.
Catherine has a wealth of experience gained from leading on all aspects of the People and Culture agenda in financial services for TSB, Lloyds Banking Group, HBOS plc, Bank of Scotland, Vanquis Banking Group and Prima. Catherine’s core passion is to build exceptional employee experiences and to create positive and inclusive cultures for all.
Steve has worked in financial services for over 25 years. During that time, he has held various management positions at Cattles PLC and senior management positions at Oplo.
Steve currently leads the Mortgage Division at Tandem Bank, which specialises in offering a range of products including Bespoke mortgages and Residential first and second charge mortgages.
Steve sits on Tandem's Executive Committee and represents the Mortgage division internally at several committees, and externally when working and interacting with regulators and trade bodies such as the FLA (Finance Leasing Association).
Dave joined Tandem Bank in 2022 bringing over 30 years motor finance experience from a career with Mercantile Credit, First National Motor Finance and culminating as Chief Operating Officer at MotoNovo Finance where he played a critical role in transforming the business into the leading independent motor finance business in the UK.
Dave is building the Tandem Motor Finance business with an ambition to deliver much needed change to the industry with a fairer and greener offering for the new mainstream at the heart of everything we do.
Julian has spent over 35 years in specialist lending. He was a Director of GE Money in the early 2000s before setting up his own Home Improvement Lending Business, m2i, in 2007, which he subsequently sold in 2012.
He was part of the team that founded Shawbrook Bank and also part of the team that set up Allium Money in 2018.
Steve has worked in financial services for over 25 years and has held a number of senior risk, compliance and internal audit roles across a range of firms such as HBOS, LBG, Northern Rock (as part of the new management team post the collapse of the organisation) and Lowell, one of Europe’s largest credit management companies.
Steve has a passion for building business and customer focused teams that are data enabled and deliver a strong risk and compliance culture. He has also been recognised by Credit Strategy as one of the top 500 people in the credit industry.
A multifaceted lawyer with a broad range of experience in areas of finance, commercial and corporate law.
Marriam has spent half of her career working with finance teams in London City law firms, and the other half working in-house in retail, corporate and institutional banking divisions of international banks.
She has navigated many types of complex transactions and projects through various sectors providing sound legal advice, as well as providing insight into jurisdictional, regulatory, and industry specific issues.
Maria joined Tandem Bank in October 2023.
She has previously held senior roles at JP Morgan, leading the product strategy for their core financial platforms, and also headed Product and Innovation divisions for Consumer Banking for the NatWest Group.
Recently named on the Women in Fintech Power list, Maria has been acknowledged for making an impact across the FinTech and Financial Services ecosystem.
She is an active crusader for ESG and Sustainable Banking and Finance and one of her core objectives is to steer, influence and shape consumer behaviour and their understanding around sustainability.
Sven has extensive experience across corporate development, consumer lending and retail banking. He has held senior roles across Santander, HSBC and Tandem, leading product functions across credit cards, mortgages, unsecured lending as well as deposit products. Sven then successfully moved into corporate development where he has a track record of completing strategic acquisitions and asset purchases from deal sourcing through due diligence to deal execution and integrations.
Sven has passed Level I and Level II of the CFA Program.
Darvish has extensive experience in Financial Services. For the past decade, he has been focused on developing and launching technology-driven lending propositions in the consumer and SME sectors. Most recently, as the VP of Growth at consumer lender Selina Finance, he was part of the founding management team, and at Kriya (formerly Market Invoice), a digital SME lender.
Before this, Darvish qualified as an accountant at PwC and worked in corporate finance advisory at financial services-focused investment bank KBW, where he focused on M&A and capital raising for financial institutions in the UK and Europe.
Paul joined the Tandem Board as a Non-Executive Director and Chair in June 2022. Following over 20 years building and leading some of the most disruptive and established consumer financial services businesses in the UK and overseas, he now holds a number of roles as either Chair, Non-Executive Director, Board Adviser or investor in a range of high growth, disruptive financial services businesses.
Having previously been an adviser to the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer and HM Treasury on competition issues in banking, Paul is a passionate advocate for consumers’ interests in financial services.
A life-long swimmer, Paul regularly competes in triathlons and multi-sport events, often for the charity Breast Cancer Now, where he was formerly a Patron.
Alex has held Senior Director positions in the Credit Industry with a career spanning over 25 years. After beginning his career at Yorkshire Bank, he went on to work at Welcome Finance in Branch, Area and Regional Manager roles running 60+ Branches across Northern England and Scotland.
After a 10 year period of exceptional growth he left to found Oplo (formerly 1st Stop Group) in 2004, and has overseen the business's last 15 years of expansion.
David joined in January 2023 as Tandem’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). David has over 23 years’ experience in CFO and senior financial roles for Atom Bank, Britannia Building Society, Co-Op Bank and Bank of Ireland. David is a member of both the Bank’s Board and Executive Committee.
Matthew has been an independent Non-Executive Director at Tandem Bank since March 2022. He has significant experience in financial services, insurance and price comparison.
Formerly the Group CEO of BGL Group, Matthew is now a Non-Executive Director of Markerstudy Group and Chairman of BGL Insurance. He has also served as Chairman of Three Rock Group (Ireland) since 2020. During his tenure at BGL he founded Comparethemarket.com, leading the business to its market leading position.
David has been an independent Non-Executive Director at Tandem Bank since December 2020. He specialises in strategic risk management and executive remuneration and serves as Tandem’s Senior Independent Director.
David has substantial experience operating in board level leadership roles across the retail financial services industry. He has served as a Non-Executive Director of the Leeds Building Society since 2012 and is a former CEO of Sainsbury’s Bank.
Malcolm is a highly experienced Non-Executive Director in financial services, with various roles on the Boards of Tandem, QBE, Ageas, Randall & Quilter, and Hampden Agencies Limited. He is the Chairman of United Response, one of the UK 's largest charities. In addition, he is on the Court of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, the Chair of the Chair's Forum, and a member of the Association of Audit Committee Chairs Independent Forum. He was formerly a partner with three of the Big 4 accountancy firms, and he has held executive management positions for several years in global banking and insurance firms.
Matthew has been a Non-Executive Director at Tandem Bank since March 2022. He holds expertise in the fields of private equity, asset management and corporate finance. He is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Matthew has been a Partner of Pollen Street Capital Ltd since 2013 with responsibility for clients including Tandem Bank, Shawbrook and Amicus Bank. He has also held Non-Executive Director seats on the boards of Capitalflow since 2016.
Aileen is an experienced Non Executive Director and Fintech Advisor with more than 30 years’ experience in consumer and digital service businesses with roles at Virgin Money, Co-Operative Bank and Cognizant. Qualified in Digital Strategy from Insead, Aileen’s expertise is in business transformation, technology enabled customer innovation and corporate governance in highly regulated environments. Aileen is currently Chair of Innovation and Chair of Remuneration at Hodge Bank, Non Executive Director at International Personal Finance PLC and Chair of Risk Committee at Target Tech Mahindra.
Patrick has been a Non-Executive Director at Tandem since April 2024. He joined Pollen Street Capital in 2021 as an Investment Director, having spent the previous 15 years as an investor in or advisor to the financial services industry. Prior to Pollen Street, he worked at Toscafund Asset Management as a Principal in the Private Equity team, at Jacobs Asset Management as Director of Private Investments, and at Deutsche Bank as an Investment Banking Analyst and Associate in the Financial Institutions Group. Patrick is also a member of Tandem’s Audit, Remuneration, Risk and Nominations Committees.
Yep, we use cookies too. They help us sweeten your online journey, personalise content, and give us a peek at how you’re moving around our site. Wanna know more? Check out our full Cookie Policy.