Liam Lawlor has been promoted from senior business development manager (BDM) to sales director, overseeing some of Octane’s newest BDMs.  

He has worked at Octane since 2017 and will continue to report to managing director Mark Posniak. 

Former senior credit manager Graham Macaulay has been made head of short-term lending, with three of the credit managers reporting to him. He will continue to develop them while providing credit intelligence and support to the rest of the team.  

Macaulay joined Octane in 2018. 

Donna-Louise House has been promoted to head of buy-to-let credit, after joining the lender in 2018 as senior credit manager. She will head up Octane’s new buy to let team.  

Octane soft-launched its buy-to-let offering during lockdown with a number of key partners and will be widening its distribution towards the end of the summer. 

House and Macaulay will both report to Matt Smith, director of credit and risk.

Jonathan Samuels (pictured), CEO of Octane Capital, said: “We’re always keen to promote talent and commitment from within and Liam, Graham and Donna, who have worked tirelessly to grow Octane in recent years, deserve to have their hard work rewarded.  

“Each is a huge asset to the company and we are confident they will continue to go from strength to strength in their new roles.”  

He added: “Things have picked up sharply since the property market emerged from lockdown and all three will be vital to ensuring we continue to grow our market share at a time when, more than ever, experience counts.”   

Brailsford (pictured) is tasked with working with the field and telephone based teams across each of the seven regions to maximise the time they are able to spend with brokers.

He will work closely with Paul Adams, who joined Pepper Money as sales director earlier in the year, and Clare Jarvis who was appointed as head of intermediary distribution.

Ryan Brailsford said that he is excited to lead the team of regional development managers.

He added: “At Pepper Money, we recently revamped our entire product range and we have an important task in educating brokers about the opportunities to find solutions for their clients who have had CCJs and defaults registered as recently as the last six months.”

Paul Adams, sales director at Pepper Money, said: “We have recruited well, structured our team to maximise our resource and have the best people in place to deliver brokers unprecedented service levels. Ryan has proven himself to be a fantastic leader and I know he will be very successful in the role.”

Ian Balfour, sales and marketing director at TFC Homeloans, said that Brailsford’s appointment is the latest in a long line of positive moves at the lender.

Last month, Pepper Money introduced a new sales structure to provide brokers with enhanced face-to-face and telephone support across seven regions, each with its own dedicated regional development manager and telephone business development manager.

Director of marketing at Foundation Home Loans, Jeff Knight, told Mortgage Solutions that the promotion reflects its growth plans, following an increase in sales in the last six months.

Hendry (pictured) will continue to manage his existing key partners and will also now manage across Foundation’s three core channels of business, such as clubs, networks and packagers.

He has been with Foundation Home Loans since the start of 2018 and has more than 16 years’ experience within the financial services sector, having worked in a number of roles at both lenders and advisory firms.

The specialist lender said the promotion would help develop its relationships with all three channels and solidify and strengthen its commitment to its key partners.

Product restructure

This change comes after the restructure of Foundation’s buy-to-let product range.

Hendry said that he is pleased to take-on his new role, adding: “We are all here to help existing and new partners, to grow those relationships and to provide the support advisers need to ensure they are making the right recommendations for their clients.

Andrew Ferguson, commercial director at Foundation Home Loans, said: “Grant’s promotion is richly deserved and he has proved a considerable asset to the business over the last 12 months.

“On the back of our restructured buy-to-let product range, we now have a team in place which can help advisers deliver quality and competitive mortgages to those borrowers with more complex needs.”

Early this month, Foundation Home Loans also appointed Julie Bourne as regional account manager for the North East of England.

Those investments include the partnerships with Underwriters Academy and One Mortgage System (OMS).

Prior to this promotion, Callaghan (pictured) held the role of head of operational finance and business risk.

He has been with TML since launch and now leads a team of 40 across the underwriting, customer service, collections and completions divisions from the real-life lender’s headquarters in Glasgow.

Callaghan said that service excellence is listening and responding to the changing needs of brokers to provide the best possible journey for them.

He added: “We have a customer first focus at The Mortgage Lender. Everything we do as a team challenges the industry norms – to reject the ‘do as we have always done’ and to do things differently. To do it better.”

“The creation of my new role is the first of many areas we’re investing in to deliver service excellence. We’re working on an extensive training programme to be rolled out in the new year, our aim is to continue to empower our staff to make the right decision at the right time for brokers and customers.”

Peter Beaumont, deputy chief executive at TML, said: “The creation of Scott’s new role is fundamental to our focus on delivering exceptional service to the market.

“Real life lending isn’t just about having a pragmatic approach it’s about supporting people at different stages in their life and how we work with our partners.”

Pepper Money has promoted Ryan Brailsford to head of sales for the North from regional development manager.

Pepper Money is currently recruiting to fill his previous role.

This follows the recent appointment of Phil Quinn as national account manager, marking the importance of the market in the North and the value of dedicated business development support.

Brailsford will manage a team of regional development managers, who will be tasked with supporting brokers to grow their business by helping more clients with specialist circumstances.

Ryan Brailsford said: “Changing demographics and working patterns mean that more borrowers are turning to professional mortgage advice and specialist lenders are responding to this demand with increasingly competitive products and service propositions.

“My role will be to help brokers make the most of this opportunity and grow their business by finding a home for more of their interesting cases.”

Clare Jarvis, acting sales director and head of national accounts at Pepper Money, said head of sales for the North is a new role for Pepper Money that demonstrates its commitment and focus on building mutually beneficial long-term partnerships with brokers across the country.

She added: “With a deep understanding of the region, strong connections and unrivalled knowledge about Pepper, Ryan is the perfect choice for the role.”

Vida Homeloans

Vida Homeloans has promoted Mike Cook, who joined Vida in 2016, to commercial director.

He will be in charge of overseeing the development of the balance sheet as Vida grows, identifying new market opportunities and pricing strategies that meet customer needs.

In addition, Andy Middleton has been promoted to head of product and proposition. David Whitford has been promoted to head of intermediary support where he will be building and managing the telephone business development manager team who support Vida’s 10,000 registered intermediaries.

David Tweedy, chief executive officer of Belmont Green, said of these appointments: “As Vida has now exceeded over £1bn in mortgage originations, we have taken the opportunity to make these changes to enable further growth in our business.”

For the past two years, Le Bas (pictured) has previously been business development manager in the South West for Fleet.

He has over 30 years’ experience working in the retail banking and finance industry. Prior to joining Fleet Mortgages, he held a number of BDM roles in the specialist lending sector.

Bob Young, chief executive officer of Fleet Mortgages, said the promotion will add further strength to the sales team.

Graham Le Bas added that he was delighted to work with the team and help ensure Fleet achieves its goals for the remainder of 2018 and beyond.

Earlier this month Fleet announced Steve Cox will be leaving Hodge Lifetime, where he has been working as business development director since April 2016, to join in November as distribution director.

Meanwhile the lender has also launched a series of fixed-fee mortgages to expand its existing product range, aimed at helping advisers who are sourcing larger buy-to-let loans.

Marketing executive Olivia Morgan told Mortgage Solutions there was no head of sales before and the company is currently recruiting someone to replace Bungar in his prior role.

Jeff Bungar has been fundamental in establishing new business opportunities and professional relationships across the country.

With over 25 years of sales experience across a variety of industries, Bungar will now manage a growing sales team and help to secure Kuflink’s growth strategy.

Kuflink Bridging CEO Narinder Khattoare said: “Since joining us in 2011, Jeff has shown commitment, diligence and natural flair. His appointment as head of sales is a key driver for our growth plans and long-term objectives.”

David Morris has been appointed director of risk management, while Gavin Seaholme will move into the head of sales role, with responsibility for managing the field sales team.

Elsewhere Ade Akande (pictured) has been promoted to the post of head of MI and analytics.

Akande said: “Shawbrook always looks for areas to improve, and using data intelligently helps us challenge the way we currently do things. This often leads to positive change across our product proposition, improvements to our systems, or can simply provide reassurance that we are doing things the right way.

“I plan to continue with developing a deeper understanding of our customers, our valued broker partners and ourselves to inform everything we do, helping us build and grow together.”

Emma Cox, sales director at the lender, said that the promotions were a sign of Shawbrook’s commitment to being one of the top commercial lenders active in the market.

To qualify for the offer, brokers need to submit the credit approved terms from a direct competitor to the head of sales, Sinead Moynihan (pictured).

A list of Mint Bridging’s direct competitors is available upon request.

A spokesperson for Mint said that credit approved terms constitute a decision in principle from a lender that has been approved by their credit team.

“Different lenders do things differently, but what we’re looking for is a full breakdown of the approved credit costs – such as the interest and cost per month, the legals and valuations,” she said.

The promotion is available to new and existing introducers, and will be initially available until 30 April 2018.

Mint added that pending results and feedback, it may continue the offer indefinitely.

The caveats

Under the terms and conditions, the offer is applicable for loans under £1.5m, with heavy refurbishment and development loans excluded.

Mint defines heavy refurbishment as structural change, such a knocking down support walls or moving staircases.

While Mint Bridging said it will beat the terms of interest charged by its competitors – it added that it may not provide the same loan to value (LTV) nor term for the client.

In addition, the guarantees are subject to underwriting and do not constitute an offer, and are subject to borrowers meeting Mint Bridging’s lending criteria.

The deal may also be changed or withdrawn at any time, and cannot be combined with any other Mint Bridging offer.

Moynihan commented: “We have a lot of money to lend and want to aggressively continue to grow our loan book. To do that, we’re going head-to-head with our direct competitors on price.

“The market is evolving every day,” she continued. “We do not want to lose deals purely on price. It’s about maintaining market presence and moving forward at all times.”

Founder and managing director Andrew Lazare added: “At Mint Bridging we provide great rates and service consistently, but we don’t want price to be a reason introducers shop elsewhere.”

Daryl Norkett has been promoted to senior development manager, he joined Shawbrook in 2015 from Barclays and has since worked to build a panel of broker partners for Shawbrook.

Norkett will be working to support the development of the product offering, and identifying new opportunities for the specialist lender.

He will also continue to mentor Lee Williams as he develops his broker partners in the East Anglia region.

Shawbrook said this will allow Norkett to work more closely with Karen Bennett, managing director of commercial property, and Ade Akande, senior manager of strategic planning.

Rob Holt has been promoted from sales executive to senior sales executive, after working at Shawbrook for the last three years as a contact for the wider broker community, and in support of the sales desk and field based teams.

He will continue to provide day-to-day support for Shawbrook’s broker partners and the sales desk team, while working on sales initiatives to support the wider commercial business.

Emma Cox (pictured), sales director of commercial property said: “I am delighted to announce the well-deserved promotions of Rob Holt and Daryl Norkett. They are outstanding representatives for Shawbrook, applying good sense and expertise everyday.

“I am confident that they will continue to provide great support to our partners and their clients in their new roles,” Cox added.