Octopus Property has appointed Carl Graham as business development manager (BDM) for the North of England.

Graham (pictured) has almost 15 years’ sales and real estate experience. He will be responsible for driving further loan book growth, across both commercial and residential investment, in the North of England.

Since 2011 he has been sales director at Bridgebank Capital, where he sat on the main board and was responsible for setting up the ‘Quantum by Bridgebank Capital’ brand, growing the mortgage book by 300% within 12 months of launch. Prior to this he held a number of other business development and underwriting roles.

2017 saw Octopus Property transact record volumes, growing the loan book to over £800m following the launch of its Lifecycle Lending proposition.

Mario Berti, CEO of Octopus Property, said: “Carl has built a reputation in the market for truly understanding borrowers financing requirements and delivering significant business growth as a result.

“As investors and developers increasingly look to diversify their property portfolios away from London and the South East, Carl’s market intelligence and deep intermediary network will be invaluable in supporting our ambitious plans for 2018, as we target a multi-billion pound loan book and a number of innovative new product launches.”

Graham added: “The decision to join the Octopus Property team was an easy one, given its reputation as a market-leader in the provision of customer-focused fast and flexible financing, for borrowers at every stage of the real estate cycle.”