Altura Finance has appointed Guy Nyirenda and Francois Taljaard to its management team, taking on the roles of head of commercial and specialist lending and operations director respectively.
Nyrienda will launch, lead and develop a specialist lending proposition at the firm. He will bring on specialist lenders to its panel, develop a network of professional introducers and expand its team of advisers.
He was most recently a partner at Coreco for just over 13 years, where he worked within the specialist finance team and focused on large commercial, development finance, large portfolio lending and high-net-worth private finance.
Before that he was a consultant at Cobalt Capital for around four years, which followed just over two years as a consultant at John Charcol.
In his role, Taljaard will oversee operations and finance, as well as the recruitment of advisers and appointed representatives.
Taljaard joined the firm around a year ago and before that was head of employee benefits in L&C’s mortgages team for just over three years.
Prior to that he was a partner at Mercury FX for nearly four years, having previously been co-founder and director of Coreco, working there for nearly a decade.
Altura’s managing director Rob Gill (pictured) said: “We are delighted to have attracted two such experienced, well-respected individuals to our management team. Guy’s experience of the specialist sector is unrivalled and is a huge boost to our ambitions in this area.
“Francois has a wealth of experience running mortgage brokerages, which will be invaluable building the processes and infrastructure required for ambitious, sustainable growth.”
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.