The Teachers Building Society has appointed Ralph Punter to a newly created role of business development manager (BDM) covering London and the South East.

Punter (pictured) has more than 30 years’ experience working in the financial services industry. He worked for Virgin Money as a regional sales manager, before moving on to Harrods Bank as head of intermediary sales.

In his last role with Butterfield Mortgages Limited, his responsibilities included introducing an intermediary panel and managing the company’s team of BDMs.

He will focus on developing and maintaining mortgage intermediary relationships on behalf of the business across London and stretching to the South East.

Simon Beresford, chief executive of Teachers Building Society, said: “Ralph is well respected within the mortgage intermediary arena, with a proven track record and a fantastic network. By creating this role, this further demonstrates our commitment to our intermediary partners – Ralph’s appointment has strengthened our existing intermediary team and is key to ensuring our continued growth.”

Punter said: “I am very pleased to be joining Teachers Building Society, where I will draw on both my Retail and Private Banking experiences to help to support intermediaries. The business has made significant advances within the intermediary mortgage market and I’m excited that I now have an opportunity to help the organisation to advance this further.”