In a short time, the new head has already made an "exceptional" contribution to Afin Bank, particularly in helping it build its Diaspora and HNW propositions.

Afin Bank, a newly-launched specialist lender driven by a strategy to serve the African community in the UK, has made Tippie Malgwi (pictured) its head of High Net Worth and Diaspora Banking. The appointment aims to acknowledge the growing importance of both propositions for the specialist lender.

While supporting Diaspora borrowers has always been a core part of Afin’s mission to help underserved customers, the bank said that Malgwi has driven the development of it’s high net worth proposition for “asset rich, income light” borrowers since he joined Afin last year.

Originally called Afin Premier, the newly re-branded Afin High Net Worth (HNW) mortgage allows borrowers to include assets such as their pensions, investments, shares, real estate holdings and even fine art and classic cars when assessing their affordability. See more here about the bank.

As part of the promotion, Malgwi will oversee Afin’s Diaspora mortgage offering designed for foreign nationals working in the UK who can find it hard to get a home loan because of the length of their visa or a lack of UK credit history.

“The response to the Afin High Net Worth mortgage has been incredible because it gives borrowers more scope in assessing their affordability, which usually isn’t possible via mainstream lenders,” Malgwi said. “It is also more accessible because we work with brokers and wealth advisors, so it is not just the preserve of private banks.”

“I am also delighted to continue to help to drive the awareness of our mortgages for diaspora communities. These are people, such as health workers and other professionals, that are crucial to our society and should be given the chance to buy their own homes.”

“The contribution Tippie has made to Afin Bank in such a short time, particularly in helping us build our Diaspora and HNW propositions, has been exceptional, so I am delighted that he is taking on this new role,” Jason Oakley, CEO for Afin Bank, added. “He brings a unique combination of mortgage knowledge and understanding of customer needs, which means he can have a very technical conversation with advisors about their HNW clients, just as easily as he can talk directly about the importance of home ownership with people in diaspora communities.”

Afin Bank was created to help some of the UK’s most underserved customers, such as people from overseas living and working in the UK on a valid work visa and borrowers like the self-employed, qualified professionals and high net worth customers. It offers a range of residential and buy-to-let mortgages for properties in England and Wales.