Mortgage Soup fires the questions at Ronelle Arbib, chief operating officer at Recognise Bank.

Mortgage Soup (MS): Please tell us about your role at Recognise Bank and a little bit about your background.

Ronells Arbib (RA): I have been the chief operating officer at Recognise Bank since 2022. The role has grown with the business and now cover a wide range of responsibilities.

As the Bank’s SMF24/chief operating officer, I’m primarily accountable for the Bank’s operations, operational resilience and supplier management. I also lead our Product, Change Management, Service Delivery, Technology and People teams. It’s a broad remit, but these teams form the heart and engine of the Bank and are critical to our day‑to‑day performance and to delivering our strategic objectives.

My career has always been rooted in operations, although across very different sectors. I began in the military, specifically the Air Force, where I led operations for search and rescue helicopters. I then moved into real estate, helping to set up a real estate investment company and building the operational infrastructure that supported the growth of more than £500m in assets under management.

I’ve always been passionate about building and scaling organisations, putting the right foundations in place so the business can deliver commercially. I joined Recognise Bank at the very beginning of its journey, while we were still working toward our banking licence, and helped establish all of our customer‑facing capabilities. It has been an exciting journey ever since.

MS: You recently announced a 30% increase in your loan book, what does that mean to the Bank and how does that underpin your future growth plans to support more SMEs?

RA: It’s an incredible milestone and a testament to the role we’re playing in helping businesses achieve their financial objectives. We’ve worked hard to continually refine, develop and improve our products and services so they genuinely meet customers’ needs, and it’s rewarding to see that reflected in our lending growth.

Our ambition is to keep building on this and to continue supporting SMEs, so they can focus on running and growing their businesses. We see ourselves as partners in their success, enabling them to scale with confidence and concentrate on what they do best.

MS: What role does technology have in supporting your growth plans and how important has technology been so far in the Bank’s journey?

RA: Technology underpins everything we do. We have a fantastic team who understand our products and know our customers, and our technology enables them to focus on where they add the greatest value and delivering excellent service.

We use technology to make our relationship‑driven approach faster, more flexible and more efficient. It also ensures we grow in a secure, scalable way that aligns with regulatory expectations. Ultimately, our technology gives us the foundation to deliver products and services quickly, reliably and in the way our customers need.

MS: How will your new office in Milton Keynes support your service proposition to brokers and what are your plans for this team in 2026?

RA: As part of Recognise’s next phase of growth, we have opened a new office in Milton Keynes, which will work closely with our London head office. Milton Keynes will become a key hub for our operations team, enabling us to continue delivering excellent service and strong outcomes for our customers and brokers. We’re very excited about this next chapter and the additional capability it brings to the organisation.

MS: From a lending and savings perspective to SMEs, what are your aims and ambitions for 2026?

RA: Our aim is to continue being a trusted partner to the SMEs and brokers we work so closely with. We are committed to continually improving and evolving our products, services, channels and communication to meet our customers’ financial needs.

We plan to keep growing our offering, expanding the products our customers value, and doing so while maintaining service excellence. Personally, I’m looking forward to continuing to build our team and working with the fantastic people at Recognise Bank to strengthen our proposition and make an even bigger difference to SMEs.