LHV Bank names Damian Thompson CEO for UK lending expansion

LHV Bank appoints Thompson to lead lending expansion

LHV Bank has chosen Damian Thompson as its next chief executive as it prepares to increase lending, with smaller businesses a particular priority, BusinessCloud reports. The former Starling Bank executive is scheduled to take up the role on 4 January 2027, subject to regulatory approval.

Thompson brings more than 30 years of experience in UK banking, structured finance and financial services. His appointment puts an executive with experience of expanding a digital bank’s loan portfolio in charge of LHV Bank’s next stage of growth.

Starling lending experience follows a long NatWest career

LHV Bank Limited is the UK banking subsidiary of AS LHV Group. BusinessCloud describes the lender as digital-first: its expansion plans centre on building its UK business through technology rather than changing its underlying operating model.

Thompson spent almost two decades in senior positions at NatWest Markets before joining Starling’s executive team. At Starling, his responsibilities covered lending and asset management during the bank’s expansion, according to BusinessCloud.

Starling’s loan assets exceeded £5 billion under Thompson’s leadership, with mortgages and SME lending accounting for much of that portfolio. That record gives LHV Bank a chief executive whose previous responsibilities included lending to the business customers it now wants to reach.

Thompson also ran Fleet Mortgages, Starling’s buy-to-let mortgage lender. His subsequent remit at Starling included SME banking products, personal overdrafts and loan products, extending his experience beyond managing loan assets to overseeing products for business and retail customers.

Beyond those executive roles, Thompson chaired UK Finance’s Specialist Banks Advisory Forum until the year of the announcement, BusinessCloud reports. The forum represents banks outside the UK’s five largest, giving him experience of the industry issues facing smaller banking providers.

LHV chairman puts technology at the centre of UK growth

Mihkel Torim, chairman of LHV Bank Limited, presented Thompson’s combination of large-bank experience and digital-bank execution as the reason for his selection. In comments reported by BusinessCloud, Torim said Thompson’s background connected the experience gained at NatWest with the speed of development at Starling and fitted LHV’s entrepreneurial approach.

Torim identified a stronger local UK presence, supported by the bank’s technology platform, as a central strategic goal. His comments place the leadership appointment within a broader effort to build the subsidiary’s domestic business, rather than simply fill its most senior position.

Thompson pointed to the parent group’s history of profitable growth as an important foundation for expansion. In his comments to BusinessCloud, he also made risk management and regulatory compliance explicit priorities alongside growth, signalling that the lending push is intended to retain those safeguards.

Regulatory clearance comes before the leadership handover

The Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority must approve Thompson’s appointment, according to BusinessCloud. That clearance is the outstanding condition attached to the planned leadership change.

For SMEs considering UK financing options, the announcement sets a direction rather than introducing a new lending offer. BusinessCloud’s report gives no lending-volume target, product launch date or eligibility criteria, so businesses cannot yet assess what the expansion will mean for their own borrowing plans.