Recognise Bank has appointed VAS Panel to speed up valuation turnaround times and give more confidence to broker partners placing business with the Bank.

VAS Panel’s appointment to provide valuation management services on all of Recognise’s property lending, including bridging loans, commercial property loans and professional buy to let loans, followed a detailed tender process and will help to significantly reduce approval times for SME lending applications.

VAS Panel, part of the VAS Valuation Group, provides a full valuation, project monitoring and panel management service giving Recognise Bank access to over 200 valuation firms, covering in excess of 250 regional offices. The database will be utilised in core geographical areas to ensure the most appropriate RICS-qualified surveyors are instructed for Recognise Bank cases based on location, deal type and value.

James Meigh, director, business development for Recognise Bank, said: “Appointing VAS Panel will further improve our commercial lending proposition, providing us with access to a much wider group of specialist valuers. VAS Panel’s excellent coverage and service means that the valuation process will be much quicker for all our lending customers, significantly speeding up turnaround times.

“With commercial finance, speed and reliability are some of the most important factors as borrowers and brokers need to move quickly and confidently. Our personal approach already means we are responsive to a customer’s needs and can provide flexible funding solutions, but the implementation of VAS Panel shows that we have been listening to advisor feedback and have taken steps to speed up the process as well.”

Stephen Todd (pictured), chief commercial officer and co-founder of VAS Valuation Group, added: “Recognise Bank’s tender process was extremely thorough and considered all aspects of the business’s people, processes, quality control, customer service and service level agreements, so to be selected in a competitive pitch process to provide all panel management services is a real honour.

“We will continue to invest in our experienced team and award-winning technology to support our customers. We very much look forward to working closely with our new partner Recognise Bank over the coming months and years and supporting them in their continued growth.”