Cover story
Embracing change
Tiuta has had quite a year so far but it’s standing strong and it knows where it’s heading. Sarah Davidson finds out what’s been going on
It is impossible to write an interview with Tiuta without mentioning the fact that there’s been a shuffle at the top this year and a change in direction for the lender. But despite this the lender
remains one of the biggest and most established in the market. If you speak to brokers, they will tell you that for all the hot air blown about by lenders, Tiuta puts its money where its mouth is. To set the scene, earlier this year
Tiuta’s chief executive George Patellis left the group for personal reasons and went back to live in the States, and various other well known names including Guy Garrard and Stuart Brumhill also exited the firm. But while they were moving on,
other well known names were joining the lender. Gareth Lewis came on board
as head of business development in May and former chairman, Steven Nicholas stepped in as chief executive. And things are looking
positive at the lender, now 26 strong. Change can be tough but it can
also bring opportunity. It appears Tiuta has taken
the opportunity to reassess what it’s doing and focus on its core business of unregulated commercial bridging. “The regulated loan side of
Tiuta was only ever between 2% and 5% of our business,” explains Nicholas. “The strength of the business is based on the commercial side. We’re interested in dealing with the professional and serial developer and investor, with a strategy in place to exit the bridge and make a profit from their investment.” “Business to business has been
what we’ve built our business on.” Lewis says it goes back to the
market and where that’s moving. “Fewer classic residential bridging cases are coming in,” he says. “Bridging is more suited to a commercial scenario in any case.”
28 BrIDGING INTroDuCer september 2011 Nicholas says the decision to
reshape and be clear about Tiuta’s strategy was partly driven by new lenders coming into the market trying to grab market share. “There has been a big rise in
competition in the market recently,” he says. “At one stage Tiuta had a good run at the bridging market before other companies came into the market. “That was great while it lasted
but we have to be ahead of the game now that there are so many new entrants. That means being focused on core products rather than diversifying into other areas. “We’re taking Tiuta down the line
of short-term lending. Bridging is our business and we will build on the strength we’ve developed over the last few years.” The increasing competition is
unavoidable in the bridging sector with lender after lender piling in – many because of the perception there is masses of business but more because the margin on offer
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