In Reference Appointments & Updates
More than half of brokers (55%) say an economic bounce-back and the avoidance of high unemployment is most critical to their business success for the rest of 2021. A further 22% of property and commercial
finance brokers responding to United Trust Bank’s recent Broker Sentiment Survey believe that continued success of the Covid-19 vaccination programme is most important to their performance for the remainder of the year. Other factors noted by brokers were
continued support of the property market and SMEs by government, overcoming Brexit challenges and the ability to recruit high calibre staff. An overwhelming 88% of over 130
broker respondents declared that they were ready to respond to a ‘post-pandemic boom’ fueled by government spending and pent-up consumer demand. However, 6% of brokers indicated that they were still regrouping following the trials of Covid and the remaining 6% didn’t expect to see a post-pandemic boom anyway. Mark Stokes, chief commercial officer,
United Trust Bank, said: “Although the UK economy still has some way to go to regain its Covid-19 losses, it does at least appear to be growing and there is certainly plenty of activity in the specialist finance market.”
SmartSearch has achieved its best ever first half year results in 2021, following a surge in demand for its online ID check and due diligence platform. The multi-award winning RegTech specialist, based in
Ilkley, West Yorkshire recorded 27% in business growth and an increase in users from 45,000 to 53,000. In addition, the firm has seen 21% expansion in its team in the first half of the year, increasing from 135 in January to 164 in June. After the best year in SmartSearch’s history last year,
John Dobson
2021 has started on a record-breaking pace. The record results in 2021 are as a result of SmartSearch’s anti-money laundering product becoming even more essential for regulated businesses. Across industries, there have been increasing fraud and money-laundering
attempts since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. The crisis opened a window for attempted fraud as lockdown caused face-to-face interactions to become scarce, and criminals used this opportunity to digitally alter documents. These attempts to deceive are not just restricted to the UK and SmartSearch
began offering its services internationally last year. It opened an office in the USA in July last year, and in May 2021 expanded into the Netherlands. John Dobson, CEO at SmartSearch, said: “We have been continually innovating
in the past year to stay ahead of the competition. The market is getting more crowded, but none of the other entrants to the sector offer the breadth, or efficiency of our product. The pandemic certainly has attracted the attention of those looking to attempt fraud, and our product has never been more critical to prevent it. Even with lockdown restrictions easing, some businesses are still operating remotely when on-boarding clients, and our system provides a quick and easy method to accurately identify customers.”
Praetura Group, the North West-based debt and equity capital provider to SMEs,
United Trust Bank (UTB) has agreed to fund the first phase of an exciting new development in Chestfield, Kent by regional house builders, Kitewood. The bank is providing a £22m loan facility on a peak
debt funding arrangement for the first phase of the scheme comprising 98 new, two to five bedroom homes with a combined GDV of circa £42m. Subsequent phases will see Kitewood creating a total of 300 new homes on the 16.7 hectare site close to Whitstable. Kitewood has been building quality homes in and around
is expanding with the launch of a new financial division designed to unlock flexible finance for SMEs. Praetura Invoice Finance (PIF) will
support UK-wide SMEs from a broad range of sectors by helping them to obtain funding against unpaid invoices. This will allow SMEs to free up resources that can be used to fund working capital or reinvest in the growth of the business. PIF’s launch coincides with an uptick
Paul Flannery
London and the South of England for nearly 30 years. Paul Flannery – director – property development, UTB said: “Kitewood have
an excellent reputation for delivering great quality homes and I am delighted that UTB are supporting this scheme in Chestfield which will eventually deliver 300 much needed new homes in the South East. We are committed to helping house builders acquire and complete development opportunities by building strong, long term relationships which can endure the ups and downs of the economic cycle. This Kitewood development is a great example of how specialist development lenders like UTB can work with experienced developers to structure innovative funding solutions which meet the needs of the customer and the bank.”
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in demand for commercial funding, as busi- nesses look to grow following the pandemic, and as the government scales back its COVID-19 business support. In the first quarter of 2021, 42%t of SMEs accessed external finance, up from 30% at the beginning of 2020, according to the SME Finance Monitor Q1 2021 published by UK Finance. PIF will complement Praetura Group’s
other lending divisions and will be led by managing director Ray Lowrey, who has more than 30 years’ experience in commer- cial finance. Ray joins PIF from Bibby
August 2021
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