Proplend appoints Chief Operating Officer

By Bridging Loan Directory 10th January 2019

Commercial property finance platform Proplend has appointed a new COO, as well as recruiting a new BDM to its borrower team, to bolster its ranks ahead of an exciting 2019.

Richmond-based peer to peer lending platform Proplend has appointed Matt Carson as its first Chief Operating Officer (COO) to join the senior management team.

Carson has over two decades of experience in commercial real estate lending operations at Morgan Stanley and five years of commercial real estate loan servicing experience at Hatfield Phillips (Situs).

Meanwhile, Akmal Khan also joins as a Business Development Manager, bringing with him a wealth of property finance experience, most recently at Metro Bank. Prior to that, Khan spent 8 years with HSBC where he was a business development manager covering Greater London and the South East of England.

“Akmal will be joining our borrower team with a remit to increase loan origination across the platform, both from our existing borrower and broker base and his own network”, commented Proplend founder and CEO Brian Bartaby.

“We’re also delighted to welcome Matt to the team, whose institutional management and operational experience, will be invaluable in assisting me guide Proplend through this next stage of sustained growth”, Bartaby added.

These high-calibre appointments come hot on the heels of Proplend passing the £50m lending milestone, with over £100m of commercial property funded. Since launching in 2014, Proplend has returned £16.5m of capital and more than £5m of interest to its ‘Lenders’, with no investor losses to date.

The platform also boasts a 5-star overall rating with Trustpilot and is rated among the lowest risk and most transparent platforms by industry experts. P2P specialists 4thWay have given Proplend’s safest Tranche A investments their top rating, describing them as “astoundingly good for the risks involved.”

Incoming Proplend COO Carson concluded; “Proplend has established an impressive track record with both investors and borrowers, and after a successful 2018, clearly has big plans for 2019 and beyond. I’m excited to be joining at a time of significant growth for Proplend, the tax-free Innovative ISA market and the peer to peer lending industry in general. I can’t wait to get started”