New bank Aldermore appoints Co-Op's Mack as new FD

LONDON Feb 27 (Reuters) - New British bank Aldermore has appointed James Mack as its new finance director after Mack said earlier in February he planned to step down from the same role at the Co-operative Bank.

Co-op said on Feb. 15 that Mack was leaving to take up a role with another bank. His departure, along with the imminent retirement of chief executive Peter Marks, has heightened speculation that Co-op's proposed purchase of 632 branches from Lloyds could be in trouble.

Aldermore was founded in 2009 with backing from private equity firms AnaCap and Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners. It focuses on lending to homeowners and small businesses and aims to offer an alternative to Britain's established but unpopular high street banks.

Last month, Aldermore said its loan book now totals over 2 billion pounds. It is also the fifth biggest lender in the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS), which provides cheap funds for lending to small firms and households.