Paragon announces new SME lending sales structure to bolster broker, vendor and specialist lending

Paragon Bank’s SME Lending Division has unveiled a new structure for its Sales function, bolstering both the Broker and Vendor teams, while retaining a clear focus on its specialist markets.

The function will consist of three distinct teams – Broker, Vendor and Specialist Lending.

Broker: Led by Head of Broker Ian Galbraith, who has held the role for three years, the Broker team consists of three Business Development Directors, 14 Business Development Managers, eight Business Development Associates and an Internal Sales team of two.

Vendor: The Vendor team focuses on developing relationships with manufacturers, vendors, dealers and distributors, as well as directly with SMEs. It is headed by Terry Lloyd, who has been with Paragon since 2010 and was most recently Head of Construction Finance. He will be supported by a Business Development Director, nine Business Development Managers and five Business Development Associates.

Specialist lending: The Specialist Lending team is headed by Matt Bass, who has been with Paragon for over seven years and will incorporate Invoice Finance Sales, Discount Receivables and Aviation Finance. Matt will be supported by a Head of Aviation Finance, three Invoice Finance Sales Managers, one Business Development Manager dedicated to Discount Receivables and two Business Development Associates.

All heads of the three sales teams will report to Stewart Good, Paragon Bank SME Lending Sales Director.

Stewart Good said: “The new Sales structure strengthens our market proposition and gives clear delineation to our brokers, vendors and direct customers regarding which sales team they will be working with. We have ambitious growth plans and, aligned with our investment in our digital proposition, this new sales structure gives us a solid platform on which to build the business.”

In addition to the changes to the Sales team structure, Paragon has also made further enhancements to the current operational structure, creating a new team focused on supporting sales teams, brokers and direct customers during the application stage.

John Phillipou, Paragon Bank Managing Director of SME Lending, commented: “We have delivered significant improvements in our end-to-end service provision over recent years and the changes we have announced today to our Sales and Operational structures will enable further efficiency gains to be made – allowing us to provide a faster, more efficient and effective service to our customers.”

The changes come as Paragon looks to build on the growth of its SME Lending division, which grew its loan book by 5% in the 12 months to 30th September 2023 as new lending edged up.

The SME Lending loan book at the end of Paragon Banking Group’s full-year period stood at £757.5 million, compared to £721.7 million at the same point last year. Total lending for the division stood at £447.9 million, up from £446.4 million the year before.