LHV Bank enters specialist buy-to-let sector

The lender offers commercial real estate loans and trading loans of £500,000 upwards to small and medium sized businesses in the UK. 

It has appointed Conor McDermott (pictured) as director of SME lending. He will also sit on LHV Bank’s executive committee. 

He previously worked at Monument as the head of lending for four and a half years and before that was at Arbuthnot Latham and Co for three years, most recently as director. McDermott has also been employed at Allied Irish Bank, Metro Bank, Santander and RBS. 

LHV Bank: Further appointments

LHV Bank has also appointed Savvas Nicola and Edwin Yamoah as relationship managers. 

Nicola has more than 20 years of experience in relationship management, origination and credit, having worked at Lloyds Bank and Metro Bank. Yamoah also joins from Monument, where he was for two years most recently as relationship manager. Prior to this, he spent 12 years at Santander in various roles including relationship manager and credit partner. 

Erki Kilu, CEO of LHV Bank said: “Since gaining our banking licence in May 2023 and the inception of our SME lending activities, we have successfully increased our loan book to £70m by the end of last year alone. 

“Building on the momentum of our initial success, we have set ambitious targets for 2024. We aim to issue £200m in new loans this year. Through new strategic leadership, talented lending teams in both London and Manchester and an extended product offering, we are well-positioned to support businesses driven by an entrepreneurial mindset.”