Chris Holden joins the bridging lender from Nationwide where he spent eight years working as areas sales manager. Holden’s patch will cover southern England.

Lauren Gill, business development manager (BDM) for the west of England, has been recruited from within the Octopus Group, Dragonfly’s parent company, where she carried out the same role supporting financial advisers in the investment sector.

D’mitri Zaprzala, head of sales, Dragonfly Property Finance, said: “Demand in London may have cooled down but the slack has been more than taken up by other areas of the country. The M4 corridor and south of England are particularly active and the number of enquiries and AIPs [agreement in principle] we are receiving meant we had to further strengthen our exposure there.”