Speaking exclusively to Bridging & Commercial, Jake was commenting after his recent arrival at the P2P lender from RBS.

“I would expect more and more high street bank employees to venture into the specialist finance sector, [because] of the retraction in the commercial market from many of the largest UK banks and specifically the reduction in the number of face-to-face relationship roles.

“Another major factor is the growing specialist finance sector targeting experienced commercial managers to help grow these new and exciting businesses, such as the P2P finance houses.”

Looking at how life at Assetz Capital compares to previous roles Jake has held, he added: “The role provides great flexibility.

“Having worked for large corporates in the past, you would normally feel a sense of rigidity to the job profile.

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“Working for Assetz, you are given the freedom to develop your individual style and to build your success within the company in a manner that suits you.”

Jake said that in his first month at Assetz Capital, his focus had been on building relationships with its introducer network.

“At this moment in time, I am happy with the [lending pipeline].

“This is beginning to grow with my applications now reaching the legal stage of the journey.”

Jake revealed that there would be significant investment for both borrowers and investors to provide more functionality to the platform and to increase how Assetz Capital could be used not just to save and borrow.

“A target for the remainder of the year will be to continue our steady growth in drawn down loans month-on-month.

“A remarkable milestone was achieved earlier this year having exceeded £500m lent to UK businesses. 

“As a P2P lender, there is also a very strong focus on our investors and Assetz will look to exceed the £50m gross interest earned by our investors before the end of the year.

“Solid figures when you consider Assetz had lent a total of £200m to UK businesses [as recently] as January 2017.

“The growth in the last two years has been very strong.”