Friedel was most recently head of risk at Impact Lending for nearly two years, and before that was head of underwriting at Acre Lane Capital for half a year. Prior to that, he was head of credit origination at bridging and development lender Propfin for over three years, and before that was underwriting manager for development finance at Masthaven Bank.
The firm said that it expects to bring its bridging product range to market in April this year, initially through a pilot with its “Disruptor Club”, which is a group of “key specialist intermediaries and regular introducers”.
Quantum Mortgages said that the proposition will mirror its existing term proportion, offer “certainty of decision and funding” and a “simple-to-use process and a more common-sense approach to underwriting.”
The range will include investment, minor refurbishment and semi-commercial loans in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the majority will come with a “ready-made exit” via Quantum Mortgages’ BTL term range.
Jason Neale, managing director at Quantum Mortgages, said: “Having provided hundreds of bridging exits since we launched, it was obvious for us to look at whether we should be providing the initial short-term finance ourselves. We therefore spent a long time researching and studying the bridging sector and consulted with our key intermediary partners via our disruptor club. The message was clear: They wanted a more transparent, certain, and modern proposition with the common-sense approach they enjoy when placing term mortgages with us.”
“Wes is a highly experienced bridging finance professional who adds real knowhow to our senior team. We are delighted he’s joined us and have no doubt he will launch and develop a very successful bridging lender for us”.
Friedel added: “I’m excited to be bringing a fresh and new proposition to the market – the team at Quantum have proved their intent in how fast we’ve made this happen. Quantum Mortgages have changed the way intermediaries think about standard BTL lending through their transparent, common-sense approach to underwriting with certainty of decision.
“This approach is perfect for the bridging sector and how I like to work. With solid committed funding behind us, I’m sure we can disturb this market the same way we did with specialist BTL.”
Quantum Mortgages was launched in 2022 with an initial focus on professional landlords and is headed by Jason Neale, former head of BTL lending at Axis Bank.
The lender reported £350m of new lending in 2023 and said it had grown its team from 18 to 31 over the course of the year, with six promotions and six more opportunities on the cards that would bring its total headcount to 37.
