Paragon Bank’s development finance division has appointed Len Boyd as senior relationship director.

Boyd (pictured) has over 25 years’ experience in property development finance and joins from Close Brothers Property Finance, where he spent 12 years and was most recently a business development director.

Prior to joining Close Brothers, he was a lending manager with Dunbar Bank.

He has taken over the management of a large client portfolio at Paragon, which he will be looking to expand.

Paragon’s development finance division grew lending by 24% in its last financial year to £623.2 million, with the loan book increasing to £719.9 million, up from £608.2 million the year before.

Boyd said: “Paragon has developed an excellent reputation in the development finance market over recent years and I am looking forward to helping the company move to the next stage. It has an excellent quality client base and we will look to continue to support those developers, whilst bringing new clients on board.

“It’s an exciting time to join the company, despite the economic environment, and I am looking forward to meeting with clients in the coming weeks and months.”

Neal Moy, Paragon Bank’s managing director of development finance, added: “Len’s background speaks for itself and I’m pleased that we have added somebody with his track record and experience to the team. We are a relationship bank that looks to build deep connections with clients and Len has the expertise to do that.”