Heritage makes key appointments

Steven Ramage has been named the regional bank’s new head of credit, bringing to the role more than 27 years’ experience in banking, mortgage insurance and risk management.

“Mr Ramage brings a wealth of knowledge to Heritage," the bank said in a statement. "He has previously held senior roles at Citibank, Westpac and ANZ.

“His extensive banking experience includes all lending-related activities as well as policy and product development, designing and re-engineering processes and change management.”

Meanwhile, Michael Trencher has been appointed the bank’s new head of intermediaries, and will take responsibility for driving the expansion of business within Heritage’s national mortgage broker business.

Mr Trencher boasts more than 15 years’ experience in strategic leadership of national distribution teams, and was most recently NAB Broker’s national manager of partnerships.

Prior to that, he held senior roles at ANZ and Mortgage Choice and has also operated his own broker franchise business.

Mr Trencher will be based at Heritage’s Melbourne office, and will commence the role on 14 March.

Heritage CEO Peter Lock said Mr Trencher’s appointment highlighted the importance of the broker market and the bank’s determination to extend its presence nationwide.

“We’ve put additional resources into the broker channels and we’ve committed to improving our processes to make us easier to do business with,” he said.

“We’re determined to build our brand, increase our profile and lift our loan volumes around the country.”

[Related: Heritage hungry for more investor loans]