Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) has announced the appointment of Russell Higgins as lending manager within its development finance division.

Higgins (pictured) has over 20 years’ experience in finance services, beginning his career at Allied Irish Bank in 2001, where he worked for 14 years. He was associate relationship manager at National Australia Bank from 2015 to 2016 and had the same role at Bank of Cyprus from 2017 to 2018.

He joined HTB in 2018 as relationship manager and was a member of the development finance team which opened the Bank’s Leeds office in 2018. Higgins was promoted to senior relationship manager in 2021 where he supported the commercial director and mentored younger members of the team and new joiners.

Following this promotion, Higgins will be responsible for generating new development finance business and managing already existing customer relationships. Additionally, he will work closely with HTB’s credit risk team and the credit committee to ensure the best deal outcomes for both the Bank and the client.

Higgins said: “I am excited about the opportunity to step up into the lending manager position at HTB and continue my growth within the bank and the development finance industry as a whole.

“It is an exciting time at HTB as we continue to grow our development finance proposition. We have an amazing offering and I am eager to get on the road. I am looking forward to developing contacts with new and existing borrowers, brokers and professionals.

“With its market-leading offering, HTB has a major role to play in contributing to the growth of the SME housing sector in the UK which is significantly under-supplied.”

Neil Leitch, lending director, development finance, Hampshire Trust Bank, added: “Russell has been a stalwart of HTB’s development finance team for almost five years now. He has built excellent relationships in the East of the Pennines market and especially with HTB’s existing development finance clients.

“He thoroughly deserved his promotion and I can’t wait to see him continuing to provide the sort of exceptional customer service that both Russell and the Bank have come to be known for.”