United Trust Bank has promoted Mike Walters to the position of head of sales for its mortgages & bridging and appointed Martin Sims as national distribution manager.

Walters (pictured) now heads up the mortgages & bridging sales team and is predominantly responsible for increasing UTB’s awareness and developing business volumes amongst brokers nationwide through an expanded team of BDMs.

Paul Mansell, Nick Warren and Chris Pedlar were recently joined by Kerry Bradley and Paul Delmonte and together they provide sales support to brokers throughout England, Wales and Scotland.

Sims has over 20 years of experience working in the mortgage industry, most recently as development director at HL Partnership (HLP) and previously at Castle Trust, amongst others.

He will be helping to define and implement UTB’s growth strategy for the mortgages & bridging division and broadening and enhancing the bank’s distribution amongst networks, mortgage clubs and the direct adviser market. He will be working within Walters’ team and closely with the commercial directors for the mortgages and bridging sections, Buster Tolfree and Gavin Diamond.

Robert Owen, managing director – mortgages and bridging, said: “UTB continues to develop its mortgages and bridging offering both in terms of products and distribution. We are investing in technology to improve the broker experience and most importantly we are recruiting experienced industry professionals who can help us in the next exciting phase of the Bank’s growth.

“We have made a significant impact on the specialist mortgage sector in a short time and Martin brings a wealth of knowledge to the team as we develop our relationships with networks, clubs and the DA market. Put that together with the expanded BDM presence under Mike’s leadership and we are looking forward to even greater success in the future.”