Onside Issue 5 - 25

You have recently joined Seneca Bridging, what is
your role?
I have joined Seneca Bridging with a remit to increase
the business we receive from introducers. Prior to
my joining Seneca, I met Seneca co-founder Steve
Charnock on several occasions to understand more
about the growth plans. I was excited by the prospects
and couldn't wait to get going! The bridging business at
Seneca has seen impressive performance to date and
I'm eager to do my part in furthering its development.

Who are you looking to work with?
Professional introducers, sometimes known as brokers.
The term 'introducer' is a generic industry name that
describes mortgage brokers, commercial finance
brokers, IFA's, accountants and surveyors, all of whom
will introduce business to Seneca Bridging. They will
play an extremely important part in our growth.

What is your background?
My commercial finance career began with Bank of
Scotland where I managed the bank's offering in the
retail and leisure property sectors. I joined Merrill
Lynch as Regional Manager and spent 7 years in senior
management roles, ending up as Vice President of Debt
and Equities before moving to GE Capital as the Sales
Director for their Home Lending division. I led GE's
response to the 2008 financial crisis and successfully
delivered a major change programme to reduce their
exposure to the sub-prime residential market. I left GE
to establish my own commercial finance consultancy,
in which time my reputation and knowledge of the
intermediary community grew to the point where I
was eventually enticed back into employment. I joined
Seneca from Amicus PLC where I helped them become
the largest player in the short-term lending sector with
annual completions running at £650m+.

What are the trends that have led to the demand
for bridging?
The main reason is there is still a lack of bank lending
in this sector. Whilst there are still a small number
of lenders who will look at long term commercial
mortgages (10/15 years plus), none of them currently
offer short term bridging loans and are unlikely to
do so, as it is a sector that they currently have little
appetite to get involved in. In fact, debt forgiveness
(where a bank is looking to get a loan off their books
and is prepared to offer their client a discount to
refinance elsewhere) is another driver and many
introducers have taken advantage of this. Also rising
property prices have attracted more developers and
investors back into the property market. The influence
of the introducers should also not be underestimated
as they have helped provide those needing finance with
the access to bridging finance. The bridging industry
completed over £4.5bn of loans last year.

ONSIDE WINTER 2016 |
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Onside Issue 5

Contents
Onside Issue 5 - Cover1
Onside Issue 5 - 2
Onside Issue 5 - Contents
Onside Issue 5 - 4
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