Hampshire Trust Bank and Pepper Money boost business development teams

Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has appointed a business development director and two business development managers (BDMs), while Pepper Money has hired a regional development manager.

Scott Apps has joined HTB as business development director – development finance. He was most recently a BDM at United Trust Bank.

Prior to that he was business development director at Castle Trust, where he spent five and a half years covering bridging finance, specialist buy-to-let and development finance. He has also worked as a BDM at Shawbrook Bank.

The lender has also appointed Ross Sheppard as BDM for Wales and the South, while Dan Boswell has joined as BDM for Midlands and the North.

Sheppard joined from Castle Trust Bank, where he was a BDM in its specialist mortgages team, first covering North London and then the South West of England.

Boswell previously worked at Purplebricks, covering the East of Leeds. He also worked at Northern Property Partners (NPP), where he was responsible for sourcing and creating HMOs for both UK and internationally based investors.

Alex Upton, managing director – development finance at Hampshire Trust Bank, said: “I’m delighted to welcome the three new arrivals to the business development team at an exciting time for the bank. They will be responsible for working with our broker partners and development finance lending directors to deliver our continually evolving proposition.

“The business development team will be building genuine partnerships with our brokers through education, engagement and feedback, which will allow us to adapt and further strengthen our development finance offering.”

Pepper hires development manager for the North West

At the same time, Pepper Money has recruited Richard Pugh as regional development manager (RDM) in its development finance division for the North West.

He will work with advisers in the region and their customers with circumstances requiring a more individual approach.

These include the self-employed, people who earn irregular incomes, first-time buyers, customers with little on their credit record, and customers with adverse credit.

Pugh has previously worked in intermediary business development for both Nationwide and The Mortgage Works.

Prior to this worked as a mortgage consultant for Nationwide, providing advice on mortgage and insurance solutions for families.

Ryan Brailsford, head of sales at Pepper Money, said: “Without question, more brokers are discovering new reasons why they should work with a specialist lender like Pepper Money in sourcing a solution for their customers.

“Not only do we successfully cater for credit impaired customers, but we’ve also become a ‘go to’ lender for customers who for many other reasons just don’t quite fit the mould in the mainstream market.”

Pugh added: “I’m really happy to be joining Pepper Money at such an exciting time for the lender.

“I have worked in financial services in a variety of roles and an integral part of all of these roles has been building relationships and identifying the best solution, whatever the scenario.”