WLB acquires Commercial First business platform
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Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank has acquired the new business platform from Commercial First Mortgages.
The transaction will also see WLB take on Commercial First’s origination systems, sales, new business teams and other infrastructure.
Commercial First will continue to service its existing customers and explore other strategic opportunities with its servicing and property management teams, but the firm has no immediate plans to return to new lending.
Stephen Johnson, new business director of commercial lending at WLB and former sales and marketing director at Commercial First, says: “The new business teams at Commercial First are delighted to be joining WLB, a business with a strong heritage and an exciting future.
“We are passionate about the intermediary channel and its importance in providing vital capital to small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK.
“I would like to think these teams are amongst the most highly regarded in the market and we can’t wait to get back and support the channel we have championed for the last ten years.”
WLB will provide term lending to SMEs and distribute its products through the intermediary market, while the formal launch of new lending products will be phased in during 2011.
Philip George and David Johnson join the bank as joint managing directors of the commercial lending business.
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