Bibby Financial Services (BFS) has made seven new appointments as part of its growth plan to support more businesses throughout South West England and Wales.

David Jones and Simon Stanton-Hobbs join the team as part of BFS’s regional expansion, following the appointment of Simon Hudd as head of South West Business Centre.

First joining BFS from Barclays, Hudd brings over 13 years’ invoice finance experience and will head-up a team of seven, responsible for supporting the funder’s clients in the South West and Wales.

Stanton-Hobbs has been appointed as a relationship manager, joining from Ultimate Finance where he was client manager. He has over 14 years’ invoice finance experience. Jones joins as a relationship executive from his previous role at RBS, with seven years’ financial services experience.

Hudd said: “The South West and Wales are hotbeds of business and enterprise, and I’m delighted to announce our expanded team, which will undoubtedly help us to grow our support for local businesses.

“Our vision is to continuously expand our funding support for UK SMEs, and having experienced sales and operations teams is key in helping us to achieve this. As a Sunday Times Best Companies employer, we want to attract and maintain leading industry talent.

“Coupled with our growing product portfolio, I’m confident that our new, experienced team will be able to expand our support for both local SMEs and the intermediary community.”

The South West sales team also welcomes new key members, with Tom Seymour, Elliott Butlin and Jack Seymour, appointed as business development managers and business development executive respectively.

Earlier in 2017, the funder announced the opening of its Cardiff office to bolster its support for small and medium-sized businesses. Mike Freebury was appointed as head of sales for Cardiff and the surrounding area, and he welcomes Adam Jones to the Cardiff team to support growth in the region. Jones has worked at BFS for over two years as relationship executive and has been appointed as a business development executive.

Mike Griffiths will support the teams in Bristol and Cardiff as a business development manager specialising in construction finance and larger commercial deals. He has spent three years with the company, most recently within corporate finance.

Terry Burke, head of sales for Bristol, added: “Mike Freebury and I are excited about the new appointments across the South West and Wales teams. We have been able to recruit highly experienced and motivated individuals, providing us with the resource we need to support even more SMEs in the region.”