A UK specialist bank offering savings, loans and mortgages for individuals and businesses, with offices in Brentwood, London and other UK cities.
Shawbrook is a UK specialist bank. It offers savings accounts, loans and mortgages, with a focus on customers that the biggest high-street banks may not serve well: small and medium-sized businesses, people who want to borrow for asset finance or complex credit for large investments, and landlords with several properties. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange as Shawbrook Group plc.
Wikipedia traces its roots to the Whiteaway Laidlaw department store chain (1877), with the bank incorporated as Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank in 1988. It passed through Great Universal Stores, Home Retail Group and Manchester Building Society before private investors bought it in 2011 and renamed it Shawbrook Bank in October 2011. It has since grown by buying businesses such as Singers Asset Finance, Centric Commercial Finance (now Shawbrook Business Credit), Bluestone Mortgages (2023) and the small-business lender Playter (2025). Its headquarters are in Brentwood, Essex, and UCAS lists offices in London, Salford, Glasgow and Redhill. Marcelino Castrillo is chief executive.
Shawbrook describes its purpose as being a "specialist bank driven by a purpose to power up ingenuity to create opportunity, every single day". It says it combines "the agility and customer service of a fintech with human expertise and ingenuity", and wants to be creative, practical and personal, and to run a sustainable business rather than decide on profit alone. These are the company's own words.
Teams include lending, mortgages, customer service, data, cyber security, finance, risk and HR. Its brands include Shawbrook Asset Finance and Shawbrook Business Credit. For graduates it runs an Analyst Graduate Programme and a Risk Analytics degree apprenticeship, and it supports an ACA (chartered accountancy) finance programme.
Shawbrook describes a fast-paced, innovative place that welcomes new ideas, with a mix of remote and office working, no dress code, an inclusion network and a stated zero-tolerance policy on discrimination (company claims). It looks for people willing to "roll up your sleeves, contribute new ideas and believe anything is possible". Its Thrive Apprenticeship Programme is aimed at 18 to 24 year olds and gives a permanent job from day one with a competitive salary (no figure published). Current pages list 15 to 18 month apprenticeships in Glasgow (business and retail banking, level SCQF 6) and London (data analyst and cyber security, level 4). Entry asks for GCSE grades 9-4 in maths and English and finishing Year 13 or equivalent; applicants from all backgrounds are encouraged. Shawbrook also runs school work experience days and application masterclasses: in 2022/23, 119 students from 95 schools took part and four won roles. The three-year ACA programme accepts graduates with a 2:2 in any subject, or people with an AAT or CFAB qualification and 12 months of finance experience, with study leave and a mentor.
Website: www.shawbrook.co.uk
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