Aldermore has appointed a new head of commercial lending to lead and implement its growth plans.

Gareth Claxton is taking up this newly created role as part of the wider growth of the commercial mortgages team at Aldermore. He will report to Rob Lankey, commercial mortgages managing director and will be based at the bank’s Peterborough head office.

He has over 22 years of commercial mortgage lending experience. Most recently, He was a regional director at Santander Corporate & Commercial Banking, where he was responsible for managing a large commercial mortgage portfolio.

Prior to this he managed a new business team for Santander with a focus on broker-introduced business. He has also worked for a commercial lending brokerage and has held a number of senior risk management positions during his career.

Claxton said: “I’m delighted to have joined Aldermore, which is really making its presence felt in the commercial mortgage market. Aldermore Commercial Mortgages has ambitious targets for the year ahead and I’m looking forward to helping it become a leading player in the SME market.”

Lankey added: “I’m delighted to welcome Gareth to the team. He is well known in the commercial mortgage market and I have no doubt that his considerable experience will help us have another successful year in 2014.”