Iwan Jones appointed chief financial officer of NW Mutual

Iwan Jones has been appointed chief financial officer of NW Mutual, a mutual bank with a proposed network of 60-plus branches to be owned by, based in and for the people and small and medium-sized businesses of the north west of England. 

A financial services executive with more than 30 years of experience, Iwan has worked at organisations including Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, NatWest, JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank. 

 He has also been chief risk officer at Saffron Building Society, deputy financial director with Principality Building Society and most recently, financial director at Monmouthshire Building Society. 

 His appointment by NW Mutual follows the announcement of a network of approximately 60 proposed branches of the mutual around the north west, including 16 in Lancashire, 20-plus for Greater Manchester, 12 around Liverpool and Merseyside, another 10 in Cheshire and six for Cumbria. 

Potential and yet to be confirmed locations for branches of NW Mutual: Lancashire: Preston, Accrington, Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Clitheroe, Chorley, Lancaster, Leyland, Lytham St Annes, Morecambe, Nelson, Rawtenstall, Fleetwood, Garstang, Skelmersdale. 

The ‘bricks, clicks and flicks’ business model of NW Mutual will deliver hi-tech and staffed branches, complemented by mobile and online banking, providing retail and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers with a full range of financial products and services. 

 The location of the headquarters of the mutual bank, headed by senior financial services executive Dave Burke, is yet to be confirmed but will be in the north west and is due to open in the second quarter of 2025. 

 Dave said: “Iwan’s wealth of experience in banks and building societies will be invaluable to progressing our plan to provide a mutual bank owned by and dedicated to delivering services for the people and small and medium-sized businesses of the north west of England.” 

 Dave joined NW Mutual Ltd, a co-operative society launched in response to more than 50 per cent of traditional bank branches in the region having closed and the lack of banks based in and serving the people, business and organisations in the region. 

 While Lloyds Banking Group recently announced the closure of another 136 branches by March 2026, consumer group Which? said banks and building societies had closed a total of 6,266 branches since January 2015, equating to about 53 closures every month. 

 NW Mutual’s target market is about 7.4m people and 494,395 small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the region employing more than 1.65 million people and generating turnover in excess of £239 billion in 2024.  

 David Milner, chair of NW Mutual Ltd, is an executive and non-executive director of regulated financial services companies, including being chairman of Dudley Building Society and Nottingham Imperial Building Society. 

Non-executive director James Moore has more than 25 years of boardroom experience with private and public businesses in sectors including financial services in the UK, China, Europe and Africa while also founding the Community Savings Bank Association. 

 Having already registered NW Mutual Ltd with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), regulator of financial services firms and markets in the UK, David is preparing a banking licence application to submit to the Bank of England in late 2025. 

 If the licence is granted the first branch is planned to open in the third quarter of 2026, with a full roll-out proposed for the first quarter of 2027. 

 About £1m has been invested to build the systems and financial model of NW Mutual, prepare the banking licence application and analysis of its market.