The Big Interview: From tech transformation to the decisive bank
Eighteen months later, Recognise Bank's full-year results for the year ended 31 March revealed the bank had posted a post-tax profit of £8.9 million, swinging from a £5.3 million loss the prior year. The loan book grew 51% to £461.9 million over the same period, with originations reaching £307 million. Since the year end, the loan book has grown beyond £500 million, and deposits have exceeded £600 million.
A career built on change
Bateman began his career at Abbey National – later absorbed into Santander – where he stayed for nearly 20 years, running technology infrastructure, IT cybersecurity functions, and major integrations across a succession of acquisitions. Approaching 40, he hit what he describes as a glass ceiling and moved to Lloyds Banking Group.
From Lloyds he moved to Aldermore as transformation director, then to a divisional CIO role, before a stint as CIO at Harrods Bank ended when the business was sold to Tandem. He joined Allica Bank as employee number eight, taking it through its regulatory permissions and into launch, with Nomo Fintech his final stop before Recognise.
"It's a case of accepting that change is something that has to happen," he said. "From very early on in my career, it was a case of how do I make things more efficient? If it works, fantastic. If it doesn't work, let's change it again. That's not for everybody, lots of people don't like transformation, but it's what my career has been from the outset."
What did it take to turn Recognise around?
Bateman's first moves at Recognise were structural. He rebuilt the executive team, bringing in a new chief risk officer, chief commercial officer, and chief financial officer alongside existing members, and deliberately recruited people with startup experience. He opened an operations centre in Milton Keynes and began a technology platform refresh, all while growing the loan book.
