Reward Finance Group had reported its strongest ever new business performance in March, resulting in it breaking through the £90m lending milestone for the first time.

The SME finance specialist is continuing its month-on-month growth trend, which been on the up since last summer.

Meanwhile, Reward is expanding its geographical footprint and will be launching in both the Midlands and Scotland over the summer.

It has moved to strengthen its client relationship management team with the internal promotions of Bethany Hunnebell and Claire Mitchell to portfolio managers in its Leeds and Manchester offices, respectively.

Tom Newhouse has also been promoted to operational excellence manager. The business is also recruiting a number of portfolio executives and has recently appointed Cassey McNulty to fulfil this role in its Leeds office.

Nick Smith (pictured), Reward’s group managing director, said: ““Despite the challenges of the last 12 months, the Reward team has performed phenomenally well in funding SMEs to either take advantage of opportunities or helping them to navigate through the pandemic.

“This is helped by the fact we are receiving an increasing number of referrals as our reputation for quick decision-making, and flexibility in providing funding solutions, grows among introducers nationwide.

“Whilst we have always helped SMEs across the whole of the UK, they have been serviced from our existing Leeds and Manchester offices. However, with the current market dynamics and growth in alternative finance, and the fact we like to meet all our clients face-to-face, we now feel the time is right for an operational presence in new regions, starting with Scotland and the Midlands.”