New lender headhunts HSBC manager
Bridging newcomer Bath & West Finance has headhunted a top HSBC senior to lead its underwriting, in line with the lender's growth within the market
Bridging newcomer Bath & West Finance has headhunted a top HSBC senior to lead its underwriting, in line with the lender’s growth within the market.
Bath & West has taken on Neil Vickers, formerly a manager within the training department of HSBC in Bristol.
Neil is no stranger to Martyn Smith, he was the Senior Underwriter at BridgingLoans.com back in 2007, during the outfit’s heyday several years ago.
Neil joins the team alongside Martyn Smith and Ian Parsons, who are capitalising on an already lucrative few months of lending.
B&C’s Ian Walker caught up with the new recruit and found out what’s next for Bath & West Finance…
IW: First of all, can you tell me a little more about your background?
NV: I joined bridgingloans.com in 2007 as Senior Underwriter during its reign as Bridging Lender of the year. I was responsible for underwriting and I also had the opportunity to develop the business with our broker partners. I then moved on to work for HSBC, managing training and development and the handling of customer service issues related to investment products.
How did you come by Bath & West and what do you hope to achieve?
I was headhunted by Martyn Smith who asked if I would be interested in joining the Bath and West project. The opportunity to be involved with the growth of the company from the early stages was too good to turn down.
First and foremost, on a personal level, I think already being at the top of B & C’s Fantasy Football is magnificent but it’s a long season and anything can happen. On a more serious note, I’m looking for us to build strong relations with the broker community and attain a well-respected presence within the bridging market.
Can you tell us a little more about how business is going at Bath & West?
In the two weeks I have been on board we’ve seen a steady stream of enquiries, many of which we have been in a position to provide positive decisions on. So far this has been achieved through a select group of brokers so as we start to make our presence known to a wider audience I can only see Bath & West growing and proving to be a great success.
Do you have any predictions for the bridging market? Or is there anything you would like to see changed?
The gap in liquidity which the bridging market services remains wide, and whilst it does so the opportunities for short term secure lending are vast. With the property market continuing to show signs of recovery I can only see the bridging market going from strength-to-strength.
Whilst the market remains buoyant, we need to ensure we don’t take our brokers for granted. As far as I’m concerned a high level of service is vital to survive in a competitive market place, something which we are committed to at Bath & West.
Keywords: Bath & West, Neil Vickers, Martyn Smith, bridging finance, bridging lender, HSBC, underwriting, bridgingloans.com,
Source: Bridging & Commercial — https://bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/new-lender-headhunts-hsbc-manager