Signature Private Finance reaches £100m lending target ahead of schedule

By Bridging Loan Directory 25th June 2019

Privately-owned principal lender, Signature Private Finance has reached the £100m lending target set by CEO Tony Gilbertson when he was appointed to the role in September 2016.

The business has grown considerably over the last three years, adding new offices in Cardiff and most recently Edinburgh, to ensure brokers and developers can access experienced team members with good knowledge of the local markets in which they operate.

Tony Gilbertson, pictured, said of the achievement:

“Hitting a lending target before the deadline I set almost three years ago is very satisfying. But we recognise this is just a milestone on a much longer journey that reflects the strength of our offering.

We have listened to our clients and shaped the Signature service accordingly; we’ve cut the time significantly from indicative terms to drawdown, often stepping in at the last minute with loans in days to rescue deals at risk from high-street lenders changing their minds or indeed their terms.

A hands-on proactive service from a team all with direct experience of developing property ensures we understand what brokers and their clients are trying to achieve. There is so much more to every deal than just a list of figures on a balance sheet.

I believe our success can be attributed in part to our willingness to make a site visit and discuss the developer’s vision for a property while walking around. Sometimes it’s the only way to get a real understanding of a development and demonstrates just how hard we will work to get deals done.

To ensure developers can seize the opportunities that will make a real difference to their business and their profitability, we are making the process of securing the necessary funding much simpler, whether it’s £100K to convert and refurbish or £1.5m to buy and develop.

We have invested significant time and expense into developing an innovative bespoke automated platform, based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which reduces the time taken to go from enquiry to indicative terms and valuation to drawdown.

The team here at Signature really understands the need to help brokers and developers unlock the potential in property; speeding up and simplifying the process, without missing any steps will go a long way to making that happen and ensure Signature continues to grow and succeed.”