Aspen Bridging has appointed four alumni to its Graduate Recruitment Scheme (GRS), its largest single intake to date.
This comes as the short-term lender announces planned lending of £250m in 2025, representing book growth of 25%.
Toby Long (pictured, left) joins as a trainee credit analyst having achieved a First in BSc Mathematics from Bristol University, and he will be assisting the lender’s credit team.
Sameer Yakub (pictured, right), having recently relocated from Australia where he held a number of sales and recruitment roles, has completed a 2:1 in BSc Finance and Economics from the University of Melbourne and starts as a graduate underwriter.
Finbar Mulrine joins as risk assessor having attained a First in BSc Biomedical Science from Wolverhampton University and will draw upon his family’s background in local development and refurbishment building projects.
Finally, Arjan Lal, who previously worked as business systems developer at Birmingham Metropolitan College, becomes a software developer having achieved a First in BSc Computer Science from Birmingham City University.
GRS entrants are educated in all aspects of the lender and the bridging market through an internal training programme and will gain immediate experience supporting their respective teams.
The four appointments, and imminent Midlands BDM announcement, follow-on from Aspen’s most successful year-to-date with the lender reporting a 25% increase in its loan book up to the end of January 2025, compared against the previous 12 months.
Jack Coombs, director at Aspen Bridging, said: “To meet £250m lending in 2025, equating to a further 25% book growth, and even more ambitious plans for 2026 and beyond we must have one of the best teams in the sector.
“The Graduate Recruitment Scheme allows us to take promising young university talent, train them in a comprehensive manner and create the next generation of bridging talent which will ultimately help us achieve our goals.
“The fact they are joining one of the fastest growing bridging lenders in the UK will give them impetus to excel and grow in line with the company, as have previous GRS joiners have who now hold senior positions.”
