Roma Finance

Roma Finance has promoted Steve Smith to sales director, Michael Allison to operations director, Matthew Severs to finance director and Keith Richardson to CFO.

In his new role, Steve — who has been working at Roma since 2019 — will continue to roll out his sales strategy to take the business forward.

Meanwhile, Michael, who originally joined Roma as head of transformation change in 2021 from Together, will lead the lender’s bionic transformational program and CSR strategy.

Matthew will take over Keith’s previous role, after working for the business for over a year as a financial controller.

The internal appointments are part of Roma’s growth plans for 2022 and beyond, following a successful performance during the second half of 2021, which saw its loan book grow by over 50%.

The lender also saw an uplift of over 95% in business written over the last four months of last year.

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Commenting on his promotion, Steve said: “I am thrilled to have been given this next opportunity within the business. 

“We are all focused on delivering the best possible experience for everyone who works with us, and we are all aligned in our goals and what we want the business, our partners, our customers and our team to achieve.”

Scott Marshall, managing director at Roma Finance, added: “I have said this before, but I have never been as excited about the future of Roma as I am right now. 

“We have fantastic people in every department and this is the perfect time to create this organisational structure with inspirational and innovative leaders. 

“Steve, Michael and Matt have all demonstrated their skills and commitment to the business and this is largely why we are now in such a fantastic position.”

Cambridge & Counties Bank

Cambridge & Counties Bank has appointed Barry Rodger as a senior relationship manager for Scotland.

In his new role, Barry will focus on providing real estate funding solutions for residential and commercial property investors and owner occupier trading businesses throughout Scotland.

He will be based in Glasgow and will report to the company’s regional director for the North and Scotland, Carl Ashley.

Barry joins Cambridge & Counties from Allied Irish Bank, where he worked for 20 years in various relationship management and business development roles.

Commenting on his appointment, Barry said: “Cambridge & Counties Bank has historically enjoyed strong working relationships with commercial finance brokers throughout Scotland to provide real estate funding solutions, and I’m delighted to be joining the team. 

“It is a dynamic and competitive market for real estate finance, but I firmly believe that the bank’s customer-first approach will see it gain further market share.”

Carl added: “I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Barry given his extensive real estate experience. 

“He will build on our existing broker and professional relationships and develop new ones, while working alongside Elaine [Chandler], our asset finance business manager, to support in the bank’s growth plans. 

“It’s an exciting time for us with further relationship manager appointments to be announced in the coming months across key geographical regions.”