UTB: Opportunities for all

The final quarter is traditionally the busiest time of year for United Trust Bank’s (UTB) bridging department, and clearly the end of the calendar year represents a deadline for many commercial deals as well as personal ambitions.

The bridging department has had a good year to date, of which one notable highlight was the completion of our largest ever bridging loan, secured against two residential properties in West London. At over £18m it once again illustrated the sheer variety and size of the loans we provide, given that our minimum loan size is usually £100,000.

A key aspect of all businesses is looking ahead and planning for the future and UTB’s bridging department is no different. We have exciting plans to grow our business, including the provision of more bridging products and further improving service levels. Rob Love, Nick Warren and Satch Patel have been out meeting brokers and discussing how we can work together for our mutual benefit.

We are proud to be a broker-focused business with a very broad distribution. We deal with brokers who are genuine experts in the short term secured loan sector as well as those who have never completed a bridging loan for their clients. I believe this second group, in particular, will offer considerable opportunities in the future.

This year we have created an internal sales function, led by Bradley Illman, which provides an even better service to those brokers who are new to UTB or bridging loans, and who do not have an existing relationship with our case managers. I know many brokers who have dealt with us in the past contact the case managers directly with enquiries. For those brokers, as yet without such a relationship, Bradley and the team will ensure their first experience of arranging a bridging loan from UTB will be a pleasant one.

We have also been recently joined by Brian Levin. Brian has many years’ experience in the sector and, as a chartered accountant, he will provide additional support and expertise to the case managers.

I am very positive about the prospects for the short term sector and I’m sure that many of you share my optimism. I believe that there are still significant opportunities to develop the bridging sector and for all of us to write even more high quality business. There are a myriad situations where a customer might benefit from being introduced to the personal service that UTB and our broker introducers can provide. Our regular case studies are a good illustration of the variety of circumstances in which we can assist. By describing real scenarios, we hope to erode the sometimes blinkered view of what bridging loans can be used for, and help us all to continue developing diverse bridging businesses. 

Attributed to Alan Margolis, Head of Bridging at United Trust Bank.