He explained that the bridging sector had gone through substantial change over the past few years and was becoming much more accessible to a more diverse set of borrowers. 

Alan — who became director of bridging in November, following his role as credit and operations director for the short-term lending side of the business — also believed that, in the next few years, the market would make better use of technology to make the process better and faster.

“I’d like to see us having significantly strengthened our presence in the short-term space,” said Alan in an exclusive interview with Bridging & Commercial, when asked where he would like to see Masthaven in five years’ time.

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“Although Masthaven is already a leading, well-known bridging lender, in five years’ time we will have strengthened our presence in the short-term space with greater distribution, significantly increased lending levels and even better products that take into account the diverse uses of bridging loans.”

Alan also advocated taking a “bigger-picture view” to overcome the current economic and political uncertainty. 

“Given the economic challenges and recent political uncertainty, the sector and our business have been pleasingly resilient and depending [on] the outcome of the general election, 2020 could be a very busy year as people start to make decisions that have been on hold.

“…We’ve recently joined up our mortgage and bridging sales teams [and] many of our intermediary partners are interested in diversifying their businesses into the short-term lending market, so it’s a strategic growth area for us.

“Regardless of the outcome of the general election and uncertainty caused by Brexit, it’s about taking a bigger-picture view, lending sensibly and responsibly, and acting in the best interests of our customers.

“This year we received a significant equity investment from Värde Partners, which is vital to supporting the bank’s lending plans.