Octane Capital has hired Donna-Louise House as senior credit manager.

She will report into Matt Smith, Octane Capital’s director of risk.

House (pictured) started her career in credit risk at GE Capital before moving onto Shawbrook Bank, where she was a lending manager in the short-term loans division.

More recently she worked at LendInvest for two years as underwriting manager followed by a short period at Falcon Bridging Finance, as head of underwriting.

House said: “I’ve known Matt and the senior Octane team for many years now and when the chance presented itself I leapt at the opportunity to work with them all. Octane are unique in that their product-less model allows underwriters to actually be underwriters and not box-tickers limited by set-in-stone criteria.

“Working in the fast-paced environment of start-ups has also always appealed to me and there are few companies that can match Octane for get-up-and-go.”

Smith added: “Donna is exactly the kind of driven and entrepreneurial underwriter that we want at Octane, someone who is not just technical but commercial — something all brokers want to see.

‘Her experience is second to none and there’s no doubt that she will hit the ground running and further speed up our turnaround times.

“She’s the latest addition to what is the most experienced and talented credit team I have ever worked with.”