incuto today announces the appointment of former Northumberland Community Bank (NCB) CEO Lauren Langton as its Director of Business Development, effective immediately. Bringing a wealth of experience in Financial Services including the credit union and community banking sector to her new role, Lauren will play an integral role in incuto’s future growth and product rollout in 2022
Lauren took up the leadership role at NCB in 2017. During her tenure, she was responsible for turning round a failing credit union, leading its technology transformation whilst reducing costs and leaving the business with total assets of over £1m. Under Lauren’s leadership membership at NCB increased six-fold and the volume of loans has risen by over 200%. During this time, she also initiated NCB’s payroll partner programme which has enabled local employers to offer NCB membership and financial education services to their staff, and spearheaded the bank’s apprenticeship scheme which saw NCB’s Julie Mills win Apprentice of the Year at the National Apprenticeship Awards in 2019.
Lauren was a Founder Director of Tynedale Community Bank from 2015 which provided a banking alternative for affordable loans and secure savings for anyone working or living in Northumberland. She played an instrumental role in the merger of Tynedale and the Credit Union of South East Northumberland which resulted in the formation of NCB in 2017. Prior to working in community banking, Lauren had over 30 years’ experience working for Yorkshire & Clydesdale Banks, fulfilling various roles in private banking, compliance and marketing.
At incuto, Lauren will be responsible for building advocacy and bringing in new users for the platform. In addition to her relationships with credit unions and community banks, she will focus on further developing incuto’s reach in the CDFI and Building Society sectors.
Commenting on her appointment, Lauren says: “I’m thrilled to take up the business development role at incuto and offer my experience of leading the turnaround of a community focused credit union to the team. Having had first-hand experience of the technology challenges credit unions face on a daily basis, I am looking forward to supporting incuto’s growth in 2022 and beyond.”
Lauren was part of the Association of British Credit Unions’ (ABCUL) Strategic Merger Taskforce, set up to explore the sector’s approach to M&A, alongside the development of the sustainability, relevance and purpose of the credit union sector. At the beginning of 2021, she created and became Chair of incuto’s sector-wide User Group, set up as an independent space for credit unions to discuss common challenges and share ideas on technology solutions.
Commenting on the appointment, incuto CEO Andrew Rabbitt says: “Having worked with Lauren for many years, I am absolutely delighted to welcome her as a member of our incuto team. Her experience will be extremely valuable as we continue to work with customers, helping them to provide a fully digitised customer experience, automate processes, take advantage of new services and open up channels to market.” .