Meet the team

Recognise Bank’s leadership team is made up of highly talented individuals with a wide range of exceptional experience. Get to know them below, and if you like what you see, why not check out our live vacancies?

165 years and counting

That’s how many collective years of financial services experience our executive team has.

You’re in safe hands with us.

Jean Murphy

Chief Executive Officer

Ronelle Arbib

Chief Operating Officer

Mark Bampton

Chief Commercial Officer

Georgina Behrens

General Counsel, Company Secretary, MLRO

Sahil Thapa

Chief Technology Officer

Marina Gosling

Chief Financial Officer

James Royle

Chief Risk Officer

Tricia Halpin

Chief People Officer

Our Board

We’ve built a strong and reliable team of board members

Ruth Parasol

Simon Wainwright

Moorad Choudhry

Richard Gabbertas

Philip Jenks

Jean Murphy

Check out our careers page for live opportunities at Recognise Bank.

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Jean Murphy
Chief Executive Officer
Jean has over 25 years of banking and capital markets experience at leading global institutions. She’s an investor, entrepreneur, and founder of a successful wealth management business. She previously held senior roles at several international banks, including Director of Private Banking at Morgan Stanley and Executive Director of Goldman Sachs Wealth Management Division. Jean serves on the boards of Barts Charity and the Old Vic Endowment Trust.
Ronelle Arbib
Chief Operating Officer

Ronelle has worked in several senior management and operational roles across the investment, real estate, and financial services sectors, both in the UK and overseas and has led complex financing of over £500m in debt.

Ronelle volunteers as a Senior Project Manager for The Parasol Foundation Trust, a charity helping disadvantaged women succeed in the business world, and she also leads the Bank in its partnership with Women in Banking and Finance (WIBF).

Prior to this, Ronelle spent five years in operational roles within the Air Force – managing large teams, projects, and operations.

Mark Bampton
Chief Commercial Officer

Mark has over 30 years of banking, business lending and credit experience. He has been involved in Recognise Bank’s journey from the beginning as part of the founding team that obtained the banking licence originally in the role of Chief Credit Officer. Prior to joining Recognise Bank, he held various senior executive positions in Nationwide Building Society’s commercial division, including National Head of Commercial Property Finance. Mark is also the Managing Director of Credit Asset Management Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Recognise Bank, specialising in asset finance, commercial loans and leasing finance.

Georgina Behrens
General Counsel, Company Secretary, MLRO

Georgina qualified as a Real Estate solicitor with Linklaters in 2004 before joining Citigroup in 2006 where she held senior legal and compliance roles within Corporate Finance and in Financial Crime across all business lines.

Following her stint in a big bank environment she joined the challenger bank community in 2014, first at Tungsten, then B&C Plc where she held positions of CRO, General Counsel, Company Secretary, Chief Compliance Officer & MLRO. She was a Board Director in both institutions.

Sahil Thapa
Chief Technology Officer
Sahil has 15 years’ experience in financial services having worked with multiple tier one banks. He has experience leading and managing tech driven product development and change programmes across customer and transaction life cycles. Sahil combines his work experience with his deep understanding of technology and role of data driven analytics to create transformative impact across customer and business objectives for organizations.
Marina Gosling
Chief Financial Officer
Marina, a highly accomplished professional in the financial services industry, joined Recognise Bank at the beginning of 2023 following a 25-year career in some of the world’s largest banking institutes. Before joining Recognise Bank, Marina spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs, the last 10 years as a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division. Prior to that, Marina was with Deutsche Bank and BNPP in Strategic Equity and Equity Derivatives groups. She qualified (ACCA) with PwC and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
James Royle
Chief Risk Officer

James is a banking and risk professional with deep-rooted experience in financial and non-financial risk management, leadership, commercial & corporate banking, transformation and regulatory engagement. James joined Recognise Bank in 2023 from HSBC, where he was a Managing Director responsible for the successful leadership and delivery of a major regulatory change programme. James joined HSBC as a graduate and during a 22 year career enjoyed client-facing and leadership roles around the UK and overseas, managing credit, operational, conduct, financial crime and prudential risks, both in commercial banking and as a senior risk steward.

Tricia Halpin
Chief People Officer

Tricia has over 25 years’ experience in financial services covering global matrixed structures, corporate and retail banking and start-ups.

She started her career as a banker and covered a variety of roles both in branch banking and head office before specialising in HR.

She has extensive experience in all aspects of Human Resource Management in highly regulated environments and brings a wealth of experience to Recognise Bank.

Ruth Parasol

Ruth Parasol is a distinguished global entrepreneur and savvy investor with a remarkable self-made portfolio exceeding $1 billion. Leading an international team in Real Estate, Asset Management, and Private Equity, Ruth embarked on her entrepreneurial journey after law school in 1993, swiftly becoming a pioneer in Fintech and Gaming, including software development in India by 1995.

In 2005, Ruth made history, guiding Party Gaming Plc to a monumental IPO on the LSE FTSE 100 as the world’s largest online poker room. Beyond business, Ruth passionately advocates for women’s advancement in science and technology. As Principal Benefactress of The Parasol Foundation Trust, she has committed over £40 million since 2004 to champion this cause globally. Within Recognise Bank she holds the position of Investor NED.

Simon Wainwright

Simon Wainwright holds the position of MD for the UK and Ireland, as well as COO for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at global reinsurer Reinsurance Group of America (RGA). Prior to this role, he occupied senior positions at HSBC, including CEO of HSBC Ireland, Head of Business Banking for the UK, and COO of Corporate and Structured Finance.

Additionally, Simon serves as a Non-Executive Director (NED) of National Counties Building Society. Within Recognise Bank Limited, he chairs the Recognise Risk Committee and is a member of the Nomination Committe.

Moorad Choudhry

Professor Moorad Choudhry contributes his expertise as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Loughborough Building Society, and he holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Kent Business School. He has an extensive career history, including roles as Treasurer, Corporate Banking Division at The Royal Bank of Scotland, Head of Treasury at KBC Financial Products, and vice-president in EMEA structured finance at JPMorgan Chase Bank.

Moorad’s affiliations span various esteemed institutions, including being a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and the London Institute of Banking and Finance. Within Recognise Bank, he leads as the chair of the Assets and Liabilities Committee and serves on the Risk Committee, Audit Committee, and Remuneration Committee.

Richard Gabbertas

Richard Gabbertas, who joined KPMG in 1980 and later became a partner in 1995, brings extensive expertise in financial services to Recognise Bank. Throughout his career, he led KPMG’s Regional Financial Services Practice, offering audit and advisory services to a wide spectrum of institutions within the sector. Richard’s deep understanding of banking regulation has contributed to his significant role.

Currently, Richard chairs the Audit Committee at Recognise Bank and is also a member of the Risk Committee. He is also Recognise Bank’s Consumer Duty Champion.

Philip Jenks

Philip Jenks boasts a notable banking career, culminating in his involvement with Recognise Bank starting in 2019. He served as an independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman at Chartercourt FS Group, deeply engaged in a successful banking licence application. Philip was instrumental in the launch of Charter Savings and its subsequent IPO in 2017.

He plays an active role within Recognise Bank as Chair of the Nomination Committee, a member of the Assets and Liabilities Committee, and the Remuneration Committee.

Jean Murphy
Jean has over 25 years of banking and capital markets experience at leading global institutions. She’s an investor, entrepreneur, and founder of a successful wealth management business. She previously held senior roles at several international banks, including Director of Private Banking at Morgan Stanley and Executive Director of Goldman Sachs Wealth Management Division. Jean serves on the boards of Barts Charity and the Old Vic Endowment Trust.