Westwood Capital strengthens leadership team with senior director appointment

Specialist SME commercial finance provider, Westwood Capital Finance has appointed Allan Underwood (pictured above, centre) as its new director.

Allan joins the lender having spent 35 years in the finance sector and the last 18 years in senior sales director roles at Skipton Business Finance.

He will form part of the senior management team, helping steer Westwood’s strategic direction.

In addition to driving business expansion through his network, Allan will also be focused on sustaining high service levels to both brokers and other introducers.

Owned by Darren Peacock (pictured above, left) and Gareth Fawke (right) and founded in 2022, it aims to fill the void left by traditional banks by lending up to £2m to SMEs, owner-managed businesses, property developers, landlords and investors.

Commenting on his new role, Allan said: “The opportunity to join such an agile and relatively embryonic commercial finance lender like Westwood is hugely attractive to me and will be an exciting new chapter in my career.

“I thrive in environments like this where the focus is on service, slick decision-making processes and working collaboratively with brokers and other introducers to help businesses access tailored working capital at pace.

“The company has made fantastic strides to date and I’m very much looking forward to being part of its journey and helping provide the strategic input needed to help take it on to the next level.”

Gareth added: “Allan has demonstrated throughout his career his strong financial expertise, experience and the commercial acumen required to make solid business decisions.

“His ability to transform a lender like us, by forging powerful relationships across his extensive introducer network, was a key factor in his appointment and will make him such a terrific asset.

“With the business still relatively in its infancy he also joins at the perfect time to help steer the future direction of the company and introduce fresh new ideas.

“He is widely regarded and respected across the industry and we’re delighted to have him on board.”