Digital bank OakNorth has strengthened its board of directors with the hire of Wise veteran Nilan Peiris as a non-executive director.

Peiris brings more than fifteen years of experience in technology, product and marketing, and has served as chief product officer at payment fintech Wise since 2021, where he oversees product, design analytics and sales across Wise’s multiple product lines and geographies. He joined the firm in 2014, following two years as growth advisor.

Prior to his time at Wise, Peiris served as vice president growth at holiday rental booking site HouseTrip where his tasks centred on strengthening the firm’s product and marketing strategy.

Rishi Khosla, chief executive and co-founder of OakNorth, praised Peiris for his exceptional experience having followed a range of firms, from inception to scaling and growth. Khosla said: “I have been deeply impressed by what Nilan has achieved at Wise and as OakNorth continues to scale, both in terms of our product offering and geographic footprint, Nilan’s breadth and depth of expertise will prove invaluable.”

Nilan Peiris, added: “I have been following OakNorth’s journey since inception and have always admired its commitment to customers, the scale of its ambition, and its unique approach to addressing one of the biggest commercial customer pain points in existence – access to credit. Having spent the last decade at Wise, these are all things I can relate to and that resonate deeply with me. As OakNorth continues to broaden its support for entrepreneurs through its business banking offering and expansion to the US, I’m excited to be part of the next phase of growth.”

 Launched in September 2015, OakNorth focuses on the lower mid-market and businesses between £1 million to £100 million turnover.

Since its launch, the bank has lent over £11 billion to businesses.

---