Aspen Bridging has appointed Richard Tweddle and Sinead McMurray as underwriters via its graduate recruitment scheme.

The lender, which has 22 members of staff, has seen eight join through the programme since the business was launched in 2017. It is planning to recruit a further three before the end of the year.

Tweddle joins having completed his BA (Hons) in Financial Management at the University of Portsmouth and possesses first-hand customer-side experience of the commercial market having renovated and let a number of auction purchases.

McMurray has also finished her BSc in Business Economics at Coventry University and is full-time.

In line with the graduate recruitment scheme programme both are already gaining immediate experience by supporting the underwriting team as well as managing their own caseloads under supervision.

Jack Coombs, director at Aspen, said: “We recorded our strongest first calendar quarter performance to date whereby we completed a record 59 loan advances totalling £40m, and we expect the second quarter to also break company records.

“To meet the increasing workload and maintain our best-in-class customer service targets we need to continue appointing, and the graduate recruitment scheme has been hugely successful in bringing in driven people who we educate through our own comprehensive internal training programmes.

“We are excited to welcome both Richard and Sinead at the outset of their careers in the bridging sector.”