ABOUT KENSINGTON

When it comes to specialist mortgages, there's not much we don't know.

For over 30 years, Kensington has been one of the UK’s leading specialist mortgage lenders. We serve fast-growing segments such as the self-employed, contract workers, multiple-income applicants and those who have credit file complexities.

Our buy to let proposition serves limited company and personal landlords and includes criteria aimed at helping first time buyers, experienced portfolio landlords and those with HMO/MUBs.

OUR COMPANY HISTORY

We make specialist mortgages, special

When you've been around for as long as we have, you soon learn that putting people into neat little boxes is an approach that doesn't work.

We prefer to look beneath the surface and go deeper than the mainstream lenders where all too often the 'computer says no'. Our mantra is to look for ways to say yes, so that we can help as many people as possible get the mortgages they need.

CAREERS WITH KENSINGTON

DATA AND ANALYTICS ARE
EMBEDDED IN OUR DNA

All Kensington mortgages are powered by VECTOR, our proprietary and hugely powerful analytical model that is embedded into all phases of the mortgage lifecycle.

VECTOR is supported by a unique dataset comprising over 400k mortgage accounts spanning all UK geographies, housing types, mortgage types and credit loan parameters for the last 20 years, and has driven the development of a number of in-house analytical tools and reporting capabilities that are key to the unique way in which we assess and manage mortgage credit risk.

FINANCIAL STRENGTH AND SCALE

In March 2023 Kensington was purchased by Barclays Bank UK PLC, and became part of the wider Barclays Group.

As part of the acquisition, Kensington continues day-to-day business operations as usual, supporting a broad range of borrowers that the High Street would typically not serve, but now with the added financial strength, deposit funding base and operational reach that comes from ownership by one of the UK’s largest financial services institutions.

A formidable team

The Kensington senior management team, with an average of more than 20 years’ experience in their field, bring extensive industry experience and knowledge to the business.

Their expertise encompasses building, acquiring, running and managing successful businesses having forged their careers at some of the premier players in the European and US mortgage space, including Nationwide, Deutsche Bank, RBS, GE and Barclays.

Ian Smithson

Jun 24, 2026, 15:05 PM

Name : Ian Smithson

Role : Deputy Chief Risk Officer

Ian has over 20 years’ experience working in Credit Risk, including the last 8 years specifically on Mortgages. He has worked at Barclays for over 17 years, with the last few as Head of Credit Risk for Mortgages, a role he continues to perform alongside his Kensington Mortgages remit.

Within the Barclays Banking Group Ian is viewed as a mortgage and housing industry expert. He brings a deep experience of credit risk management and understanding of regulations from both FCA and PRA, and his expertise in credit and capital policy management make him an essential addition to both the Kensington and Barclays executive committees.

As Deputy Chief Risk Officer, Ian brings his industry experience together with his understanding of best practice between specialist and mainstream lending to support Kensington’s strategic ambitions, while providing oversight and guidance on the risk and control environment.