Vertex Financial Services has appointed Phil Ashworth as account director to look after its relationship with client Tesco Bank Mortgages.

Ashworth (pictured) follows colleague Mark Webster in joining Vertex from HML. Having worked at parent company Skipton Building Society for 18 years, Ashworth become HML’s head of client relations in 2006, where he led a team of 10 account managers and was responsible for managing the commercial relationships with over 35 clients.

He will join Vertex’s client account team which is responsible for clients including ING, Virgin, Birmingham Midshires, Alliance & Leicester, JP Morgan and other large investment banks.

His main focus, however, will be Tesco Bank, whose mortgage products Vertex helped bring to market this year and whose growing portfolio it will now be the company’s priority to service.

Adam Oldfield, Vertex sales and marketing director, said: “Phil has a proven aptitude for building and maintaining mutually profitable strategic partnerships with clients in the mortgage industry.

“He is skilled at managing risk by ensuring a compliant approach to all client accounts, and his background in new product development will help us to design added-value services and enhance our continuous improvement.”