Gatehouse Bank has added two new senior hires to its direct finance team following the appointment of Gemma Donnelly as its head of direct finance.

Payal Gajjar and Alina Rauta both join Gatehouse as direct advisers.

Gajjar previously worked for RBS and, more recently, for NatWest as a Personal Mortgage Adviser.

Rauta spent 10 years as a mortgage adviser for Barclays Bank and, prior to this, as a premier relationship manager.

Both will be based at Gatehouse Bank’s recently-opened customer service centre in Milton Keynes. This dedicated team liaises directly with consumers, complementing the bank’s intermediary network.

Charles Haresnape (pictured), CEO, Gatehouse Bank, said: “I am delighted to welcome such experienced advisers to a team that is already providing outstanding customer service and advice to those customers preferring to contact us directly, instead of via brokers. Both distribution channels are important to us.”