Homes England has appointed a former Heylo Housing corporate finance director to work on the National Housing Bank’s (NHB) guarantee products.
Jonathan Conway has been appointed director of guarantees at the Treasury-backed National Housing Bank
Sharelines
Homes England has appointed a former Heylo corporate finance director to work on the National Housing Bank’s guarantee products #UKhousing #HousingFinanceJonathan Conway has been appointed director of guarantees at the Treasury-backed bank.
Mr Conway joined for-profit registered provider Heylo as corporate finance director in January 2020, serving in the role until June this year. In 2021, the group received backing from BlackRock in the form of debt funding.
The group’s registered provider (known as Heylo RP) is currently experiencing regulatory challenges, having been handed G3/V3 grades by the Regulator of Social Housing in 2023 and then downgraded further to G4/V4 in October this year.
Asked for the reason for Mr Conway’s departure, a Heylo spokesperson said he had decided after six-and-a-half years to pursue new opportunities. They added: “We wish him the best.”
Mr Conway’s LinkedIn profile shows that prior to joining Heylo he was a partner at Pillarstone, an investment and restructuring platform that works with European banks, where he was responsible for development of the firm’s real estate business. His CV also includes 18 years of experience at Barclays Investment Bank in various roles, including two managing director briefs covering EMEA and APAC head of restructuring, and EMEA head of commercial real estate and debt-to-equity portfolios.
“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as director, guarantees – National Housing Bank at Homes England,” a LinkedIn post from Mr Conway said.
Commenting on another role within the guarantees team that Homes England was advertising on the platform, he added: “Lots of really interesting things going on here in the guarantees team – a real chance to make a difference and learn a lot at the same time.”
The NHB, which was set up in April, has £16bn in financial transactions to deploy, including debt, equity and guarantees.
Using this, the bank will work with investors, lenders, developers, housing associations and government partners to crowd in over £50bn of private investment and support the delivery of 500,000 additional homes across England.
The bank is planning to launch an expanded guarantee system to respond to market needs.
Speaking at the Housing 2026 conference in June, Amy Rees, chief executive of Homes England, called guarantees “the new frontier”.
She said: “We are really very optimistic. Guarantees is the place where we can really make quite a big difference.”
Ms Rees added at the conference that she did not believe there was a “single answer to what is a good guarantee because what we’ve got is 18 products”, as set out in Homes England and the NHB’s investment prospectus.
The NHB is led by chief executive Simon Century, who previously spent nine years at Legal & General as managing director, while Peter Vernon chairs the bank.
Homes England is currently recruiting multiple positions, including an equity senior portfolio manager and a senior manager – guarantees.
This follows a flurry of appointments over recent months. Social Housing reported in August that the bank was recruiting six investment directors and a finance director, and in June the NHB made four appointments to its executive team.
Conan McKenzie, who was a managing director and portfolio manager at BlackRock, was hired as chief investment officer.
Barry Fowler, who has experience in various senior leadership roles at Aviva Investors, joined in June as executive director of guarantees.
Jennifer Murray was promoted to executive director of equity. She was previously director of products, equity and partnerships for Homes England and the NHB.
Steve Willingham, who was previously head of global investment partnerships – debt at DRC Savills Investment Management, was appointed as executive director of debt.
Sign up for Social Housing’s weekly news bulletin
Social Housing’s weekly news bulletin delivers the latest news and insight across finance and funding, regulation and governance, policy, and strategy, straight to your inbox. Meanwhile, news alerts bring you the biggest stories as they land.
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters.
Sign up for the Social Housing Leaders Conference 2026
Taking place just months into Andy Burnham’s tenure as prime minister and as the first major social housing event following the chancellor’s Budget, join 450+ senior leaders to unpack its implications, respond to the latest developments and shape what comes next.