Connect for Intermediaries has appointed a commercial lending specialist to its commercial team.

Gareth Norman joins Connect this month from Atom Bank where he was a business development manager (BDM). Before that he spent nine years at HSBC specialising in commercial banking.

Norman’s role will be to provide extra help and support to all brokers faced with clients who need a commercial mortgage. He will deal with commercial mortgages of all sizes but specialises in more complex deals of £1 million plus or management-buy-outs that involve the purchase or sale of a commercial property. He also helps clients who own their own company who may need to utilise their commercial property to enable company growth or improve their cash flow position.

The aim is to help brokers not only with the deal that they feel out of their depth on, but also those they could do themselves, but which it would save them time and stress to pass across while still receiving a proc fee.

Norman will also be offering master classes to brokers from Connect’s offices in Essex, on the ins and outs of commercial lending, to further understanding and enable them to give better advice.

He said: “I want to give both brokers and their clients the very best experience. I know that I will be able to increase the completion rate of commercial mortgages especially for those clients with companies or more complex commercial needs.

“Connect’s independence and the incredibly broad range of lenders that it works with means that we can find the perfect product every time. My aim has always been to create a situation where everyone wins and I will only ever place a deal that will be an advantage to the client. My aim is to enhance the broker’s reputation with their client, save them time and worry, achieve a higher level of completions than they may otherwise have been able to achieve, and enable them to see more clients than they would otherwise be able to.”

Liz Syms, CEO of Connect for Intermediaries, added: “Gareth’s addition to our strong commercial team will mean that we can provide brokers with assistance even for the most complex commercial cases. Connect is already well known for providing brokers with expert help and advice for commercial and buy-to-let mortgages. Gareth’s appointment will mean that we can take this one step further again.”