Damian McGann has been appointed North of England managing director at Santander Corporate & Commercial.

He leads a team based at 18 corporate business centres, including Bradford. Santander said his appointment underlined the strategic importance of the North as it continues to expand its SME (small and medium enterprise) lending. Mr McGann joined Santander four years ago as head of business development and has 25 years of experience in corporate and commercial banking.

Marcelino Castrillo, managing director of SME banking, said: “The North is a strategically important region for us and we want to increase our market share in 2014.”

Former Finance Yorkshire manager Ash Chopra has also been appointed as a director of growth capital for Yorkshire and the North East. He will specialise in working with growing businesses.