United Trust Bank has made two senior appointments within its Asset Finance team.
Ian Short, the former Managing Director of Anglo Irish Asset Finance, joins UTB as Head of Sales. Ian’s career in finance spans nearly 30 years, starting at British Credit Trust in 1984. Having been quickly promoted to management roles Ian spent 15 years at Anglo Irish Asset Finance as Managing Director before leaving in 2006 to pursue other ambitions. For the last few years Ian has provided consultancy services to his longstanding connections in the industry.
Ian’s role is to coordinate sales activities with the BDMs, to increase awareness of the United Trust Bank brand amongst the broker community and increase the company’s network of partnerships. A key objective will be to work closely with the senior management team developing and implementing strategy to achieve UTB’s aim of continued expansion in the asset finance sector.
Commenting on his appointment Ian said: “I had received approaches periodically to return to the industry but it was the offer from United Trust Bank which really appealed to me. I was aware of UTB’s growing reputation as a flexible and pragmatic lender with a strong focus on customer service. I recognised a great opportunity to join a relatively small but motivated team with ambitious plans.”
Richard Bristow joins the Bank as Credit Manager (Asset Finance) from Hitachi Capital Business Finance where for the last two years he was head of their credit function. Richard’s career in finance started in 1975 and since then he has worked with several major banks including HSBC, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB across several areas of business finance including credit management and corporate recoveries. He has held roles with lending authority since 1984.
Richard’s role as Credit Manager will see him working with the Head of the Bank’s Asset Finance division, Martin Nixon, and recently appointed Underwriting Manager, Peter Price, in assessing the department’s rapidly increasing numbers of asset finance proposals. With his extensive experience in credit management, Richard’s role will also see him working across other departments at UTB with colleagues in the Bridging and Development Finance teams.
Upon joining United Trust Bank Richard said: “Having worked for larger concerns involved in high volume processing where the needs of the customer are not paramount, I’m looking forward to being part of a team of people providing a bespoke service to customers.”
Martin Nixon, Head of Asset Finance at United Trust Bank commented;
“I’m absolutely delighted to welcome Ian and Richard to the UTB team. They are both highly respected in their fields and their vast experience will be of great benefit not only to the Asset Finance team but to the Bank as a whole. Their appointments, hot on the heels of John Cullingford, Peter Price and Sarah Bowyer who all joined us in March, mean that we have nearly doubled the size of the Asset Finance team this year. Our rapid expansion confirms our intention to significantly grow the Bank’s asset finance book and increase our market share whilst maintaining a high level of service to brokers.
“The lack of credit being made available to UK SMEs continues to present opportunities for flexible and pragmatic niche lenders such as United Trust Bank to step in and provide an essential service. We are being approached by brokers with growing numbers of proposals to provide asset-based lending to a diverse range of business and for equally varied purposes and I expect UTB to have yet another very busy year.”