Roma Finance has doubled the size of its business development manager (BDM) and underwriting teams as a result of rising business levels.

The Manchester based bridging and development lender recently reported an 80% increase in lending in the first half of 2018 and introduced new processes to be able to complete most cases within 15 days. This has resulted in a significant increase in bridging case levels.

The new BDMs should further build new introducer relationships around the country.

The underwriting team has been expanded to help deliver fast, accurate decisions and keep cases progressing throughout the fast track process.

The sales team has seen the addition of highly experienced specialist staff who will be able to assist introducers and their customers with cases from initial enquiry to completion and manage transactions and offer updates.

The new team members are:

• Tom Hill, business development manager has seven years’ experience as a bridging and commercial packager as well as being head of bridging finance for over four years at his previous company, Y3S.
• Sohail Akram, business development manager has worked in the finance and banking sector for over 10 years. He has worked in retail business and commercial banking with major banks such as Natwest and HSBC.
• Will Sterio, business development manager, has worked for seven years in banks and building societies as well as a peer to peer lender as a property manager which involved lead generation, underwriting, collections, relationship building.
• Rachel Pollock, bridging specialist, is CeMAP qualified and worked for RBS for over 16 years, with roles ranging from an unsecured lending officer to private banking executive and most recently a mortgage broker.
• George Tuffin, bridging specialist, has worked in the finance industry for the last five years, having worked previously in Y3S’s Manchester office. He has a background in B2B and B2C specialist finance.
• Danielle Nugent, graduate bridging specialist, has recently completed an accelerated business management degree but already has six years’ experience in the insurance sector working in the student, tenancy and travel markets for a major insurance company.

Internal promotions have also taken place with Simon Micklethwaite becoming a senior BDM and Daniel Hill promoted to divisional sales manager.

Tracey Martin, head of sales at Roma Finance, said: “With our lending increasing significantly now that we are seeing the positive impact of our fast track process and high service levels, our strategic plans are quickly becoming a reality. These high calibre appointments put the business in a very good position to move forward with exciting new products and sales initiatives.

“I’m delighted to welcome the new staff to Roma and I’m confident they will play a major role in taking Roma to further growth and success.”