P2P lender appoints ex-Morgan Stanley exec to COO

The commercial property finance platform has begun 2019 by appointing two new senior managers.

Proplend has bolstered its management team by appointing its first chief operating officer (COO) to handle “significant growth” at the commercial property finance platform.

The London-based firm said its has appointed Matt Carson as its first COO. Carson has over two decades of experience in commercial real estate lending operations at US investment bank Morgan Stanley, and five years of commercial real estate loan servicing experience at debt advisory Hatfield Phillips.

Proplend specialises in sub £5m commercial property loans, secured by property based in England and Wales.

The firm’s founder and chief executive Brian Bartaby said Carson’s “institutional management and operational experience, will be invaluable in assisting me guide Proplend through this next stage of sustained growth”.

Carson added: “Proplend has established an impressive track record with both investors and borrowers, and after a successful 2018, clearly has big plans for 2019 and beyond. I’m excited to be joining at a time of significant growth for Proplend.”

The company added that Akmal Khan also joins as business development manager. Khan worked in the property and finance departments at challenger lender Metro Bank, and before that spent eight years at HSBC where he was a business development manager, covering greater London and the south east of England.

Bartaby added: “Akmal will be joining our borrower team with a remit to increase loan origination across the platform, both from our existing borrower and broker base and his own network.”

Proplend said it recently topped £50m of lending, with over £100m of commercial property funded. Since launching in 2014, the business has returned £16.5m of capital and more than £5m of interest to its investors, with no investor losses to date.