Hodge Bank’s new CEO talks leadership, culture and the opportunity ahead at Hodge Bank

Interview by Siobhan O’Brien

With more than 25 years’ experience across the financial services industry, most recently as chief commercial officer at Metro Bank, Richard Saulet joins Hodge at an exciting point in the bank’s journey. We caught up with him to talk leadership, culture, brokers, purpose and, naturally… biscuits.

What attracted you to Hodge?

What stood out straight away was the culture. Throughout the interview process of meeting the Board, Executive team and wider colleagues, there was a real openness and authenticity about the organisation.

The more I learned, the more excited I became about the opportunity here. Now having been at Hodge for a few months, what’s become clear is the strength of our people, our heritage, the ownership model, our values and the way we think about our customers and brokers.

I believe there’s a significant opportunity ahead. Hodge has the potential to be a strong, unique and differentiated bank that’s hugely important not only to Cardiff, but to customers across the UK.

A group of Hodge Bank colleagues in a meeting

When you talk about purpose and culture, why are those things so important to you?

I believe everything starts with people. How we work together, how we develop colleagues and ultimately how we serve our customers and brokers.

I’ve always believed banking can be incredibly purposeful work particularly when supporting customers by delivering great outcomes in ‘the moments that matter’. Our role as an industry in helping in those moments should fill us with pride.

That’s one of the things that really attracted me to Hodge. Our values of expertise, empathy and flexibility genuinely resonate with me and create a strong foundation for the future.

How do you balance purpose with commercial delivery?

I think the two absolutely go hand in hand. We need to deliver for our customers, colleagues, brokers and shareholders alike.

Part of leadership is making sure we continue building a strong commercial business while staying true to the values that make Hodge distinctive. There’s a real opportunity to combine strong delivery with a genuinely customer-focused approach.

What experiences from previous roles do you bring to Hodge?

Most recently, I spent 13 years at Metro Bank helping to grow the bank from less than £100m of lending to the size it is today. During that time, I was lucky enough to lead lots of different businesses and saw significant growth as well as challenging and transformational periods for the bank. Experiences like that teach you a huge amount about resilience, leadership and the importance of staying focused on what you stand for through change.

I’m lucky enough to have worked for more than 25 years in the mortgage industry – from Barclays and Woolwich in my early days, through to leading Metro’s mortgage business. It’s an industry I have great affinity with – one that consistently delivers for its customers.

What kind of leader are you?

I’m a big believer in the power of building great teams; setting a clear vision and having energised, motivated colleagues who work brilliantly together to achieve amazing results. Getting that right is the key for building a great business and is ultimately the role of every leader.