With more than 35 years in financial services — spanning roles at Aldermore Bank, RBS, and NatWest — Tim has worked with both SMEs and large corporates. Now, he’s leaving the big-bank world to lead a smaller, younger firm, applying the same core principles that have defined his career at major institutions.

“I think the key thing with a specialist lender is to have good discipline around your target market,” Tim explained, such as knowing where your expertise lies and ensuring credit is assessed well to secure returns.

“There's nothing revolutionary in that, but I think discipline is important to build a sustainable business. The market dynamic can seduce firms into just growing for the sake of it and going for volume.”

Tim also shared some ideas for growing Momenta’s trajectory, even if these are still in their infancy.

One of these sees Tim with his eyes on the North. With the firm’s recent hire of Leeds-based COO Chris Forrest, who is leading the firm’s commercial elements, Tim is entertaining the possibility of expanding from a one-person team and increasing headcount to create a Momenta pod in the North.

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“Currently we’re South-based, but there's a lot of very good brokers and businesses in the North. And we see the northern market as an opportunity where we can expand our footprint.”

However, it isn’t just regional expansion Tim has in mind; he also wants to ensure that Momenta has a clear proposition for brokers, thereby increasing its conversion rates while also expanding its overall offering.

“In terms of brokers, part of our growth strategy is to be clear on our proposition and be clear on investing in the areas where we think we can make a difference — and then, over time, we will look at other products.

“If we're good at unsecured SME lending, it's easier to move into working capital-type products — potentially asset finance at the upper end where it's arguably less competitive.”

With an eye on working capital, Tim also sees further opportunity in unsecured SME finance, where the company currently operates, as well as in real estate.

 “I think there's a lot of clear water in real estate. It's a bit busier as a space, but I think there are opportunities. And I would like to expand our skill set into other products that are closely adjacent to what we do.”

While Momenta plans to keep leveraging technology to meet its growth ambitions, Tim was keen to avoid positioning it as a pure fintech. Instead, he wanted the firm to preserve the human touch he believed could be lost at larger lenders.

“One of the beauties of coming into a business when it's still relatively young is that it doesn't necessarily have the legacy of even the mid-tier organisations,” explained Tim.

“We are more advanced, I think, than many organisations — just in terms of our technology base and our technology platform.”

As Tim maps out plans to enhance the product offering, expand into new regions, and scale responsibly, one principle remains central to his strategy: focus.