Kensington Mortgages has appointed Maria Betti and Andy Heath as regional business development managers (BDMs) for South London and the East.

Betti has more than 20 years’ experience in financial services across the pensions and the mortgage industry and has worked with various lenders, including RBS, LMC, Aldermore and Together.

Heath joins from Clydesdale Bank and has a similar career over 19 years, where he has worked solely for Clydesdale in its Commercial and Private Banking team over the last eight years as a BDM.

Kensington has two additional hires in the business development unit (BDU) and increased the underwriting team by 50% over the past 12 months as part of its plans to double the number of underwriters. Last month, Kensington also launched its live webchat to allow intermediaries to speak directly with BDUs online.

Craig McKinlay, new business director at Kensington Mortgages, said: “We are delighted to welcome Maria and Andy to the team. Both have a solid track record in managing network and intermediary relationships, which will be invaluable in their new roles. As we look to continue to grow our national accounts, field sales and business development activity, our newly expanded teams will be central to this push.

“Throughout last year, we remained fully operational, and these increases to our headcount mean we can continue to provide ongoing support to intermediaries.”