SPORTA Appoints Former Sainsbury’s Bank CRO David Wishart to Lead Sports-Finance Risk Strategy

SPORTA, the fintech firm aiming to establish the UK’s first dedicated bank for the sports industry, has appointed David Wishart as Chief Risk Officer. The hire is a strategic move for the startup as it navigates a rigorous Bank of England authorisation process to serve athletes, fans, and community clubs with specialized financial services.

What was announced

David Wishart joins the leadership team at SPORTA following a tenure as Chief Risk Officer at Sainsbury’s Bank. His professional background includes 15 years at Lloyds Banking Group, where he held several senior roles across credit risk, mortgages, and retail banking. In his new capacity at SPORTA, Wishart is responsible for the design and implementation of the firm’s risk strategy, governance, and control framework. This involves embedding risk management directly into the firm’s operating model and ensuring that the business is structured to serve its customer base safely and responsibly as it scales.

The appointment comes as SPORTA progresses with its application to become a fully authorised UK bank, subject to approval from the Bank of England. The firm’s mission is to address the specific financial needs of the sporting sector, which Wishart identifies as having its own unique "economy" and "rhythms." This includes a broad range of stakeholders, from grassroots organisations and community clubs to professional teams and individual athletes. Wishart noted that the attraction to the role lay in SPORTA’s focus on the community role of sport, emphasizing that strong risk management should be built into the design of a company from the start rather than being treated as an afterthought.

To gain deeper insight into these operational and financial realities, SPORTA recently entered a flagship partnership with Stevenage FC. This agreement has seen the League One club’s home ground renamed the SPORTA Arena. Currently, SPORTA does not offer any regulated banking products or services. The partnership with Stevenage FC is intended to support the club’s long-term development while providing the fintech with the data needed to build its specialized service model.

"David’s appointment is a significant moment for SPORTA. As a business we have a big mission to create a new financial home for sport, but we are committed to doing this in a disciplined way. That means putting the right people, with senior governance and risk expertise, in place from the very beginning."

Andrew Smith, CEO and Founder of SPORTA

The companies involved

SPORTA was founded by Andrew Smith, a figure well-known in the fintech sector as a co-founder of ClearBank. ClearBank entered the market as the first new clearing bank in the UK in over two centuries, focusing on cloud-native infrastructure for other financial institutions. With SPORTA, Smith is shifting focus toward a specific vertical: the sports community. The firm enters a landscape where traditional banking giants like Lloyds Banking Group have long held dominance in retail and mortgage sectors. Lloyds is a major incumbent in the UK market, while Sainsbury’s Bank represents the intersection of retail and finance, a sector where Wishart previously oversaw risk management.

The regulatory environment for this venture is governed by the Bank of England, which maintains strict standards for new entrants seeking a banking license. SPORTA’s strategy involves building from the "grassroots upwards," a philosophy reflected in its partnership with Stevenage FC. By focusing on a niche that includes community organisations and professional athletes, SPORTA is positioning itself as a specialist alternative to the broader service models offered by established clearing banks and generalist neobanks. The firm aims to provide the specialist financial support that other sectors often take for granted but which has been historically lacking in the sports world.

What this means

The appointment of a high-profile Chief Risk Officer from an established player like Sainsbury’s Bank indicates that the era of "move fast and break things" in fintech is being replaced by a compliance-first approach. For a startup seeking a banking license, the CRO is often the most critical hire in the eyes of the Bank of England. This move puts pressure on other niche fintechs to demonstrate similar institutional maturity early in their lifecycle. It also raises questions for traditional banks about whether their generic retail products can compete with a dedicated "financial home" that understands the lumpy income and unique career trajectories inherent in professional sports.