Former Shawbrook MDs launch specialist finance brokerage

Stephen Johnson, who was deputy CEO and MD for property lending at Shawbrook Bank, Karen Bennett, Shawbrook's former MD, and Nick Ellis-Calcott, chief technology officer at the Bank, set up the business in January.

The partners will be supported by relationship manager Andy Thurston, who has worked in financial services for 10 years, most recently as a senior credit manager at Octopus Property. Prior to this, Andy was at Shawbrook Bank for over four years as a senior lending manager in the short term loans team.

FinanceWell will find finance solutions for professional developers and investors through its panel of lenders, specialising in bridging, buy-to-let, mezzanine and development finance.

The firm will also offer portfolio analysis to help clients improve the terms of existing financing and unlock further capital.

Karen Bennett commented: "I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work alongside such high calibre individuals and build a business from scratch again in a market we have enjoyed as a lender for the past 17 years.

"We want to use our experiences from our past business to build a brokerage that serves developers and house-builders with the finance options that allow them to build and grow their own businesses.

"After having huge respect for the broker market for a very long time, this has been strengthened further based on seeing first hand some of the challenges that brokers face when trying to deliver the right solutions for their clients.

"FinanceWell’s ethos is a simple one, to focus on doing all we can to deliver the right solution for the client whilst developing strong relationships that will endure.

"We are hoping that our past experience as lenders, alongside what we have learnt through our own personal developments will put us in a good position to support and advise clients on their finance wants and needs.

"We have learnt a lot from various sources over our careers and are looking forward to challenging ourselves with this new venture."