Pepper UK has appointed Alison Higgs as head of commercial loan servicing.

She will support managing director Mark Caplan to grow its new commercial real estate (CRE) servicing business.

Pepper established its CRE platform in 2014 and it has already boarded £0.4bn, with an additional £1.3bn being migrated in June 2015.

Higgs (pictured) comes from Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited (formerly Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Plc), where she was a property investment banker, managing a large commercial real estate loan portfolio. She has widespread experience in loan recovery and restructuring across a diverse portfolio covering real estate loans in performing, sub performing and non-performing categories.

She said: “Pepper was an opening I could not miss; it is a unique and unprecedented opportunity to get into something from the very beginning, as the entire department, team and service offering is being built from scratch.

“The culture and ethos of the organisation have also been a decisive factor, with its truly collaborative, inclusive, open door structure.”

Richard Klemmer, CEO of Pepper UK, added: “We welcome Alison’s experience in both commercial mortgage lending and servicing. She will lead a dedicated primary and special servicing CRE team, as well as ensuring implementation of agreed plans for loan recovery, asset sales and wind-down time frames.

“With Alison’s appointment, we are well placed to pursue our goal of becoming the pre-eminent UK servicing platform for small and medium ticket SME and CRE loans.”