Peer-to-peer business lender Funding Circle is expanding its intermediary development team with the appointments of Aristos Aristou as credit underwriter and Thomas Shave as business development executive.

The crowdfunder says the appointments are in response to an “explosion” of demand for asset finance from UK businesses, following the news that ING, the largest asset finance provider in the UK, was exiting this sector.

Since Christmas, Funding Circle has experienced a 30% surge in registrations from intermediaries and asset finance enquiries have increased by over 400%.

Aristou joins Funding Circle from ING where he spent eight years as a senior risk manager. Previously he worked at Abbey National Business Finance for four years.

He said: “ING was a mainstay in the asset finance market and their exit means there is approximately £1 billion of funding for businesses that needs to be found. I am excited by the potential of Funding Circle to help fill this gap. I have been hugely impressed by the maturity of their credit assessment systems and policies, and the hungriness of the team.”

Shave will be responsible for helping building relationships with UK-wide intermediaries. He joins from Northern Trust where he was responsible for developing the business’ pipeline and identifying client prospects.

He said: “It’s an exciting time to be joining the business. The growth of Funding Circle over the last two years has been very impressive and it’s clear that the intermediary market now views peer-to-peer lending as a mainstream way for their clients to borrow.”

Laura McMullen, business development director, added: “Since the turn of the year, we have experienced considerable interest from the intermediary market across all our products, particularly in asset finance. It is clear that new non-bank channels are stepping up and filling the gap left by the departure of traditional providers. I am very pleased to welcome Ari and Tom to our team.”

As part of the continued expansion, Funding Circle is hosting a series of breakfast seminars for brokers around the UK. These will take place in Portsmouth (12th March), Manchester (13th March), Taunton (19th March) and Birmingham (18th April). Any intermediaries interested in attending should contact Funding Circle at broker@fundingcircle.com to register.