Whitecap Consulting, a regional strategy consulting firm which works with a number of clients in the mortgage market, has appointed three new equity directors and opened two new offices to increase its presence across the country. 

Lal Tawney, an ex KPMG senior manager with 16 years of financial services experience who was formerly head of mortgages at Santander, will head up the Midlands and South region from Milton Keynes.

Meanwhile, Luke Freeman, ex Co-op Bank, Sage and Barclays, will head up the North West from a new office in Manchester.

In addition, Stefan Haase, a technology strategist who is based in the Leeds office, will work across the UK on a range of technology and FinTech projects.

All three were formerly in Whitecap’s team of 25 associates. They join the board along with Richard Coates, managing director; Julian Wells, director, and non-executive director Gary Lumby, formerly a director at Yorkshire Bank.

Coates said: “Following five successful years of trading, we are now moving into the next phase of our growth. Our new directors have sector specialisms, strong regional networks and established experience as strategy advisers to meet the needs of our clients across the country.

“Our clients are typically in high growth sectors and our recent client assignments are coming from a number of areas – regional devolution in general; Northern Powerhouse and regional authority initiatives; digital and technology; and of course, new products, markets and international opportunities. We are now growing the business in line with our aspiration to build a significant regional consultancy firm.”

Whitecap Consulting’s clients in the mortgage and lending market have included The Mortgage Lender, Aldermore Bank, Together, BuildStore, Bibby Financial Services, Unisys, Nostrum Group, rebuildingsociety.com, White Label Crowdfunding and SDL Group.