This year’s daytime event, in association with West One, brought to life the magical world of Alice in Wonderland.
Around 750 guests were taken down the rabbit hole and transported to a surreal, enchanted world full of wonder.
In total, 27 winners were announced in the bridging, commercial, development, and BTL mortgage markets.
Funding 365 was crowned as this year’s Bridging Lender of the Year, with the firm also sweeping the Service Excellence – Lender award.
“We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded Bridging Lender of the Year 2024, it is simply mind blowing," said Mike Strange, managing director at Funding 365.
"We are so grateful to everyone who voted for us and thankful to Medianett Publishing for putting on such a wonderful event yet again.”
Paul Weitzkorn, director at Funding 365, added: "We are incredibly pleased that our brilliant team have been recognised for their service; it's at the heart of our business and they strive every day to deliver the best experiences for our clients."
In addition, Funding 365’s senior underwriter Krisha Karunananthan won the coveted Underwriter of the Year trophy.
“I am truly grateful to the judging panel for honouring me with Underwriter of the Year, on top of the other two awards we won as a team at Funding 365.
"It was just lovely to celebrate what we've achieved in the past year with our fellow industry professionals and clients.
"Thank you to the Medianett Publishing team for arranging such a vibrant event, I'm already looking forward to the 2025 awards!”
The other individual category, Lender Relationship Manager of the Year, was won by Octane Capital’s Shrena Patel.
“I am incredibly happy! To be voted the winner among such strong competition means so much to me, as I know how hard everyone works to just get nominated,” said Shrena.
“I also want to say a big thanks to the wonderful team at Octane that supports me every day and the judges who voted for me.”
For Best Bridging Broker, Propp emerged victorious.
Peter Williams, CEO at Propp, commented: “Going from winning Best Bridging Newcomer to finally cinching the big one, Best Bridging Broker, in under three years is a testament to the brilliant team we have built.
“We are just so proud that our mission to drive transparency for borrowers in a previously murky space is being recognised and rewarded.
“Winning a B&C award is like winning an Oscar, so we are over the moon and it’s safe to say our summer party next week is going to become a serious celebration!
“As always, the Medianett Publishing team excelled themselves and put on a spectacular event.”
Blue Shield Capital walked away with Best Bridging Newcomer — Lender, while Word on the Street won Best Bridging Newcomer — Broker.
“I’ve been attending the B&C Awards for a decade now and it is always a very special event, crammed with the industry elite; this year’s event was planned and executed to perfection by the team at Medianett Publishing, so my thanks go out to them,” said Stephen Burns, partner at Word on the Street.
“Companies effectively only have one chance to win Best Newcomer, and we did it.
“This golden B will always hold a very special place in our hearts.”
For the regulated bridging categories, FinSpace Group and MT Finance were awarded the broker and lender trophies, respectively.
“We are honoured to win Regulated Bridging Broker of the Year and be highly commended for Best Bridging Broker,” Gamze Bastug, head of marketing at FinSpace, stated.
“Big thanks to the judges and all our friends and partners for their votes and ongoing support; having this recognition is a great milestone for our team.”
The Best Commercial Broker award was won by Watts Commercial, while Allica Bank took home Commercial Lender of the Year.
Nick Baker, chief commercial officer at Allica Bank, stated: “The whole Allica Bank team is delighted to have been named Commercial Mortgage Lender of the Year at the B&C Awards for the fourth year in a row, especially considering how key consistency is to Allica’s offering to our broker community.
“I’d like to say a huge well done, too, to Allica’s Christina Rogers for being highly commended, and Orla Mooney for being shortlisted in the ‘Underwriter of the Year’ category.
“The ceremony is always one of the highlights of my professional calendar, and the Medianett Publishing team knocked it out of the park once again.
“Thanks to the Medianett Publishing team and especially all our broker partners that have supported us again this year.”
West One scooped up Best Development Lender, as well as Large Loan Lender of the Year.
“There are some fantastic lenders operating in the large loan market, so to walk away with this award is a huge compliment to us and a big testament to the work we do at West One,” said Tom Cantor, head of bridging finance at West One.
“Our approach is simple: we aim to be flexible, collaborative, and provide top-quality customer service to brokers and their clients.
“We’re proud of the leading position we have carved out in this area of the market, and we will keep working every day to ensure we are the first lender advisers think of when they are trying to place a large loan case.”
Guy Murray, head of development finance at West One, added: “We are thrilled to take home this award in what is always a very competitive category.
“We work hard to provide a great offering within the development finance space where we focus on service proposition, common sense decision making, and speed of execution, which is clearly appreciated by the intermediary market.”
Meanwhile, Arc & Co was crowned this year’s Best Development Broker.
Gunnercooke was named as this year's winner of the Best Solicitor award.
Juliet Baboolal, partner at Gunnercooke, said: "The Medianett Publishing team truly outdid themselves with the Alice in Wonderland-themed awards.
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"The attention to detail and creativity displayed was simply fabulous; the awards were a whimsical and unforgettable event.
"The cherry on the cake for me was Gunnercooke winning the best solicitor award! Its great to see that our dedication, expertise, and outstanding legal services have been recognised; the award leaves me with a sense of pride and gratitute."
For the Best Specialist Bank award, Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) was named as the winner.
“As one of the most eagerly anticipated industry awards, winning Best Specialist Bank at the prestigious B&C Awards is an incredible honour for HTB, especially amid such esteemed competition,” said Alex Upton, managing director of specialist mortgages at HTB.
“We couldn’t be prouder to be recognised for our impact on the specialist sector across all our divisions, including specialist mortgages, development finance, savings, and asset and wholesale financing.
“This achievement is only possible thanks to the extraordinary contributions of every single person across the bank.”
The Specialist BTL Broker of the Year and Specialist BTL Lender of the Year were won by Aria Finance and Lendco, respectively.
Lucy Waters, managing director and founder of Aria Finance, commented: “Myself and the team are truly delighted to have won such a prestigious industry award.
“Our BTL team has worked tirelessly over the past 18 months to minimise the impact of interest rate turbulence for our customers, putting in long shifts and acting with empathy to guide them through some very challenging and stressful situations.
“The entire Aria team places customer service at the heart of everything we do, and this commitment has particularly shone through during this period.
“We are incredibly grateful for the nominations and the judges' recognition.
“Thank you for another great award ceremony from the Medianett Publishing team.”
Marketing Partner of the Year and Editor’s Choice Lender of the Year — selected by the Medianett Publishing team — were won by OSB Group and MFS, respectively.
“We’re honoured to receive the Editor’s Choice Lender of the Year Award,” said Paresh Raja, CEO at MFS.
“At MFS, we really try to provide great content that keeps brokers and borrowers up to speed on the market, while also helping readers better understand the options available to them.
“It’s amazing to be recognised for that, and we’d like to thank the entire Medianett Publishing team for hosting such an amazing evening once again!”
Viki Springall, group marketing director, Precise (part of OSB Group), commented: “We’re delighted to receive Best Marketing Partner at this year’s B&C Awards.
"It’s been an exciting year as we recently rebranded Precise and the team at Medianett Publishing were very supportive, so it’s wonderful to be recognised with this award win.”
For his work in the specialist finance industry, the Outstanding Contribution Award was handed to Danny Waters, CEO at Enra Specialist Finance.
"It’s an honour to receive this award and to be recognised by your peers for the work that you do," Danny commented.
"It’s also a reflection of the effort we put in every day to ensure that we are the specialist market’s go-to lender.
"Every day we strive to offer the best products, provide the best service, and develop deeper relationships than our rivals – and that will never change."
The award winners were carefully chosen by two judging panels — comprising a range of broker and lender experts from the industry — based on videos submitted by all shortlisted nominees from each category.
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