Searle has a long and impressive track record in the mortgage industry and during his time at GMAC-RFC the lender achieved rapid growth becoming a top ten player within eight years of launch.
Sean Oldfield, chief executive of Castle Trust, said: “Barry’s appointment is further evidence our commitment to service excellence.
“We have some ambitious growth plans and it’s essential that we build our business on sound foundations.
“Barry is one of the few people in the market with a demonstrable record of successfully managing rapid growth whilst delivering impressive and consistent standards of operational excellence.”
Searle added: “Castle Trust is a new breed of lender - equity loans create a whole new way of meeting customers’ needs and solving their problems. I am hugely excited about working with Sean and the team to build Castle Trust into a world class player.”
Castle Trust commenced trading in late 2012 backed with £65m of capital from US equity investor, JC Flowers & Co.
In November 2013 it launched into the buy-to-let market with products which enhance investors’ returns by increasing their ability to gear up.
Two months later it developed and launched a new proposition for high net worth and ultra-high net worth customers.
