Kuflink Ltd, which includes Kuflink Bridging, announced that Barry Meeks has joined the group after enjoying a long and successful career in the finance industry spanning over 35 years.

Bal Thind, chairman of Kuflink Group PLC, said he was delighted to have someone of Barry’s calibre joining as the group looked to become a substantial player in the lending market. 

“We have particularly progressive plans for the future as we begin to develop our P2P platform and our whole lending proposition. 

“The need for wise heads with the experience of building businesses, based on good regulatory practice and oversight, is of paramount importance and that is why having Barry on board will give us every advantage.”

Barry spent six years at Abbey National Building Society, followed by three years with Crusader Insurance PLC before becoming chief commercial officer for one of the first pioneering centralised lenders, The Mortgage Corporation, which offered mortgages direct to the public and through intermediaries. 

Barry has also served time as the managing director of Homeloan Management, Amber Credit and Mutual One as well as CEO at Pink/BDS Home Loans Group. 

Following this, Barry was COO of a proposed new venture capital-funded retail savings bank, The Home & Savings Bank, before leaving in 2013 where he has since provided specialist consultancy services, as well as taking up a number of high-profile non-executive directorships.

Barry expressed his delight for his new role, stating: “Kuflink has ambitious growth plans and I am looking forward to offering my knowledge and expertise to help them build a solid base from which they can continue to grow. 

“Short-term lending is now part of the larger mainstream market and I am in no doubt that Kuflink will become a leading light in the provision of this increasingly important type of funding.”

In May this year, Alpha Bridging rebranded into Kuflink Bridging as well as launching a new peer-to-peer platform. 

Since then, the lender has also appointed an ex-Kent Reliance underwriter to help with its planned expansion and growth.