Colin Sanders, one of the UK’s most experienced specialist lending bosses, has stepped down from his role at Allica Bank and is currently on gardening leave, Mortgage Soup understands.

Sanders (pictured), who founded bridging lender Tuscan Capital in 2018, became managing director of bridging at Allica Bank following the bank’s acquisition of Tuscan last year.

He informed colleagues of his resignation in recent days, bringing an end to his tenure at the bank just five months after the Tuscan brand was officially retired in January 2025.

Mortgage Soup understands that, in the interim, director Ed Parsons has taken over the day-to-day running of Allica’s bridging division. Parsons, who joined the business earlier this year, is understood to be overseeing its operations in the short-term property finance space.

BRIDGING EXIT

Sanders’ exit marks a significant leadership change at a pivotal time for Allica Bank, which has made clear its ambitions to become a major force in bridging finance.

The acquisition of Tuscan Capital in August 2024 was a cornerstone of that strategy, bringing in an established team with a strong broker network and short-term lending expertise.

In a statement made at the time of the rebrand earlier this year, Sanders expressed optimism about the future of Allica’s bridging offering: “The joint vision that I and the Allica team had to truly shake up the bridging market by building a bridging lender with extensive lending expertise, the ability to move fast, and provide certainty in funding is already bearing fruit.”

VETERAN OPERATOR

Sanders’ career spans more than three decades and includes senior leadership roles at igroup, GE Money Home Lending, Money Partners, Omni Capital and Fortwell Capital before founding Tuscan Capital in 2018. He is widely regarded as a pivotal figure in shaping the UK’s specialist lending sector and published his memoir in 2021.

With Sanders’ departure, attention will now turn to the team he helped build at Allica and how they execute the bank’s ambition to grow its bridging book to £500 million by 2027.

Allica has been expanding rapidly since its launch in 2020, lending over £2 billion to UK businesses and earning recognition as the fastest-growing company in the country, according to The Sunday Times 100. The bank’s foray into bridging was widely seen as a logical extension of its commercial finance capabilities.

Allica Bank has been contacted for a statement, while Sanders was unavailable for comment. It is unknown how long Sanders’ is on gardening leave for.