Short-term lender Alpha Bridging has announced the appointment of Kenneth Hillen as chairman.

Hillen has been a director of Alpha since 2012. Aside from providing consultancy services to companies and their banks, he has previously held senior roles with Royal Bank of Scotland as senior corporate director, Anglo Irish Bank as managing director for Scotland and Northern Ireland and Bank of Ireland as Head of commercial & corporate banking for Scotland.

Mercedez Binning, managing director of Alpha Bridging, said: “Having worked with Kenneth over the past 18 months and seen how he has helped the business develop, I am delighted to see him take on this key role, as Alpha is planning to expand its operations considerably over the next 12 months. And I am sure that Kenneth will have a central role to play in helping us achieve those objectives.”

Hillen added: “The market for short term lending continues to grow. Smaller independent providers like Alpha Bridging are well placed to help advisers and their clients with the funding they need, particularly for the increasingly important short term cash injections that SMEs need in order to grow.

“I am looking forward to taking a greater role in helping Alpha Bridging move to the next level.”