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You have recently joined Seneca Bridging , what is your role ?
I have joined Seneca Bridging with a remit to increase the business we receive from introducers . Prior to my joining Seneca , I met Seneca co-founder Steve Charnock on several occasions to understand more about the growth plans . I was excited by the prospects and couldn ’ t wait to get going ! The bridging business at Seneca has seen impressive performance to date and I ’ m eager to do my part in furthering its development .
Who are you looking to work with ?
Professional introducers , sometimes known as brokers . The term ‘ introducer ’ is a generic industry name that describes mortgage brokers , commercial finance brokers , IFA ’ s , accountants and surveyors , all of whom will introduce business to Seneca Bridging . They will play an extremely important part in our growth .
What is your background ?
My commercial finance career began with Bank of Scotland where I managed the bank ’ s offering in the retail and leisure property sectors . I joined Merrill Lynch as Regional Manager and spent 7 years in senior management roles , ending up as Vice President of Debt and Equities before moving to GE Capital as the Sales Director for their Home Lending division . I led GE ’ s response to the 2008 financial crisis and successfully delivered a major change programme to reduce their exposure to the sub-prime residential market . I left GE to establish my own commercial finance consultancy , in which time my reputation and knowledge of the intermediary community grew to the point where I was eventually enticed back into employment . I joined Seneca from Amicus PLC where I helped them become the largest player in the short-term lending sector with annual completions running at £ 650m +.
What are the trends that have led to the demand for bridging ?
The main reason is there is still a lack of bank lending in this sector . Whilst there are still a small number of lenders who will look at long term commercial mortgages ( 10 / 15 years plus ), none of them currently offer short term bridging loans and are unlikely to do so , as it is a sector that they currently have little appetite to get involved in . In fact , debt forgiveness ( where a bank is looking to get a loan off their books and is prepared to offer their client a discount to refinance elsewhere ) is another driver and many introducers have taken advantage of this . Also rising property prices have attracted more developers and investors back into the property market . The influence of the introducers should also not be underestimated as they have helped provide those needing finance with the access to bridging finance . The bridging industry completed over £ 4.5bn of loans last year .
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