Jayne Almond is to succeed Tim Breedon as chair of Kensington Mortgages.

In additional, she will also be joining parent company, The Northview Group, as an independent non-executive director. Breedon will remain as chair of The Northview Group.

Almond has worked for a number of banks, including four years at Lloyds TSB, where she was managing director for European internet banking and Barclays Bank, where she was the director of business development for the UK retail bank.

In 2005, she founded Stonehaven UK Ltd, a specialist mortgage company, where she was CEO and chair for nine years.

Almond currently holds a number of directorships including chair of Butterfield Mortgages Ltd and GKBK Ltd. She is also an Honorary Fellow at St Hilda’s College, Oxford University.

Breedon said: “We’re thrilled to have someone of Jayne’s calibre and expertise chairing Kensington. Jayne has a superb pedigree in retail finance and will bring her deep and rich experience to propel Kensington forward in its next phase of growth.

“The specialist mortgage market is booming due to profound socio-demographic shifts; in particular, the rise of the self-employed and multiple income workers and an increase in demand for mortgages for over 55 year olds. Jayne’s appointment signals our desire to grow rapidly to meet this demand.”

Almond added: “This is an exciting time to be joining Kensington, the multi award winning specialist mortgage provider. With the market experiencing significant technological change, Kensington is well placed to capitalise on this using its innovative use of data analytics, whilst continuing to enjoy significant growth by evolving its market leading customer propositions.”