Chris Storey, Chief Commercial Officer at Atom Bank – Mortgage Strategy

Tell us a little about your career so far?

I have always been attracted to new endeavors and creating new things.

At Northern Rock I was part of the first team that built its strength in the financial markets, and in particular the car dealerships that drove the bank’s growth.

I later joined Tesco Bank, excited about how we can take data from the Tesco Clubcard and use it in banking, in a pre-AI and quantum computing world.

Ultimately, if we can get deals as quickly as possible, everyone benefits

I also worked on the first phase of Belmont Green as the founding team began the phases of what would become Vida Homeloans.

I recently joined Atom Bank, looking for ways to disrupt traditional banking through speed, innovation and automation.

What is the main basis of your role?

My main job is to drive revenue for the business. I look after the commercialization of our core product portfolio, in residential and commercial lending, as well as our platform investments, where we finance buy-to-let and other SME assets in a progressive manner through our partnership with Landbay and the Funding Cycle respectively.

Alongside the day-to-day at Atom, I recently joined the executive committee at the Open Property Data Association, to help support the industry in advancing initiatives that will speed up the end-to-end mortgage journey for customers.

What is Atom’s USP?

We are committed to delivering improvements to both our customers and the consumers they work with. That may seem like an easy thing to say but, if you look at our proposal, I think it helps change the way the mortgage market works.

As an industry, we take too long to give borrowers the answers they need to make decisions

Acceleration is a good example: everyone in this industry knows how slow real estate sales can be. We are really focused on ways to speed up the mortgage process, so sellers and borrowers can be informed as quickly as possible.

Working with consumers, and investing in the right technology, means we’ve simplified parts of that process, using automation where it can’t be efficient.

What was your reason for entering this field? What other career path might you choose?

I have always been fascinated by the way banks work.

It is a sector that is often abused but is very beneficial to the economy, allowing would-be business owners to realize their dreams; and supporting so many customers with their home ownership aspirations, or their desire to protect their savings and build wealth. Something about that has always appealed to me.

I was looking for ways to disrupt the old way of banking with speed, innovation and automation

One of my passions is sports and I have been fortunate enough to help coach local grassroots teams over the past few years. I am interested in the evolving data aspects of high performance team sports.

He has over 25 years of experience in all financial services. What are the biggest challenges the industry has faced at this time?

The financial crisis was huge, and we can still see the impact today. The mortgage market has changed dramatically since then. Subsequent regulation was clearly needed, but there were concerns that it would be cumbersome and hold back innovation.

However, the results have been very positive. As an industry, we’ve been better able to weather market shocks — and there’s been plenty of them since then — without seeing such a big impact on borrowers and savers alike.

We have optimized parts of the process, using automation where it can be most effective

Looking ahead, technology – and especially AI – is a clear challenge on the horizon. The difficulty will be in determining where it should be used and where its use should be limited.

If you could change just one thing about the mortgage market, what would it be?

It will have to be the speed involved. As an industry, we take too long to give borrowers the answers they need to make decisions, and funds continue to buy.

We have made great progress at Atom Bank, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Ultimately, if we can get deals as quickly as possible, everyone benefits.

This article appeared in the July/August 2026 issue of Mortgage Strategy.

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