Darrell Walker joins ModaMortgages as Head of Sales

By Bridging Loan Directory 8th November 2023

Darrell Walker has officially been unveiled as head of mortgage sales & distribution at ModaMortgages, a new specialist buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage lender from Chetwood Financial.

Founded in 2016, Wrexham-based Chetwood is a digital bank soon to launch ModaMortgages, an intermediary-only BTL lender.

Walker has been with Chetwood for the past 12 months, helping to develop the ModaMortgages proposition and build out the team. As the lender readies for launch, Walker has been announced as the company’s new sales and distribution lead.

Walker began his career in financial services in 1991, holding roles with Coventry Building Society, Barclays Bank, Bank of Ireland, Lloyds Banking Group and Legal & General over the next 22 years.

From 2014 to 2020, Walker worked at OneSavings Bank, building and developing the Prestige Finance and Interbay Commercial sales and distribution propositions, before also leading the group’s product and proposition function.

More recently, Walker spent two-and-a-half years in product development and sales at Shawbrook Bank.

Chetwood recently announced that Ian Lonergan is its new group chair. Lonergan was previously CEO and founder of Precise Mortgages, which grew to be one of the largest BTL and residential specialist mortgage lenders in the UK. Like Walker, he too has been helping shape the ModaMortgages proposition over the past year.

Walker said:

“Over the past year, we have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to develop a proposition that will really resonate with brokers and landlords, and I think we’ve done just that.

As a straight-talking specialist lender, ModaMortgages aims to make the BTL mortgages process smarter, faster and simpler, focusing on the essentials to ensure a fast and transparent service.

I am thrilled to be leading the sales and distribution team, and it is great to go public with this news.

We are building a brilliant team of people who will deliver on the exciting vision we have for ModaMortgages.”

Chetwood’s founder and CEO, Andy Mielczarek, added:

“Darrell understands the specialist lending market inside out, and has been instrumental in developing the ModaMortgages proposition. We are delighted to have him as part of the Chetwood team.

At Chetwood we create financial products and brands with a real point of difference.

ModaMortgages will achieve this by delivering an exceptional service to brokers, taking time and stress out of the process of getting a BTL mortgage for their client.”