Sancus has recently appointed Melanie Fourie as head of sales (North), based in Manchester.

Fourie (pictured) will be implementing Sancus’ UK growth strategy in the North, increasing Sancus’ presence and offer with supporting infrastructure across the North West and North East, initially by recruiting a business development team of property specialists.

She is an experienced finance professional with over 20 years’ in the industry. She joins from Together where she built their national non-broker strategy including National Strategic Partnerships in specialist property finance. Before Together, she worked for Ratesetter and Funding Circle in their specialist property teams and prior to that held various roles over a long tenure at Barclays Bank.

She joins recent new recruits, Emma Tempest and Saimir Kurti who joined Sancus in June to expand their bridging finance division.

The specialist lender specialises in property bridging and development financing from £100,000 to £10 million-plus throughout the UK, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar with a niche in client focussed lending and extensive experience in handling more complex lending proposals.

Fourie said: “I am truly excited to join Sancus and help build on the amazing foundations that started offshore and in London. The company is now building a strong brand and presence right across the UK and Ireland, as well as in its original offshore jurisdictions.

“I am really looking forward to building a brand new team, harnessing an amazing culture and having the ability to grow our proposition to meet the needs of clients and businesses right across the board.”

Richard Whitehouse, sales director, UK, added: “Bringing Mel into the Sancus team is a great coup for us, with her vast experience in property lending and extensive network of contacts, she is a great fit for our planned expansion in the UK.”