Loans Warehouse has gained full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for regulated bridging activity as it continues to expand its offering.
It comes after a push by Loans Warehouse, traditionally known as a secured loan broker, to build an increased presence in other market sectors – including unregulated bridging – over recent years.
Matt Tristram, co-founder of Loans Warehouse, said: “As a business, we have been diversifying our offering over the past few years as we look to build on our core proposition whilst meeting increased consumer demand for other products.
Loans Warehouse partners with Credit Kudos
“We’ve made no secret of our intention to secure Regulated Bridging Authorisation, having spoken about it since the start of 2019, and the time provided by lockdown and the resulting slowdown in lending has allowed us to meet that goal.
“We’ve moved into several new sectors over the past 18 months and the move into Regulated Bridging is just another example of our commitment to our customers and the industry during this difficult time.”
During the pandemic, Tristram and co-founder Sam Busfield have been active on social media showing the positive steps that Loans Warehouse has been taking – at a time when many businesses have been struggling.
Indeed, Loans Warehouse was the first brokerage to reopen their office for all staff to return to normal working in early May after groundbreaking measures were taken to ensure staff safety.
And in recent weeks Loans Warehouse has launched Open Banking through Credit Kudos for better decisions within their personal loan division.
The move into regulated bridging comes in the midst of a tough year for the bridging sector – which reported a drop of over £43m in Q2.
Tristram said: “Lockdown and the restrictions on physical valuations especially made the market almost impossible to lend for all but a handful of lenders but with house prices and demand remaining strong as we enter Q3 we are already seeing much stronger results.
“Throughout this time one of the most prominent lenders and supporters of the broker market has been United Trust Bank. We’re delighted to announce them as the first addition to our regulated bridging panel.”
Gavin Diamond, commercial director – bridging at UTB, added: “Loans Warehouse has built an excellent reputation as leading introducers in the secured loans and unregulated bridging market and I’m delighted that we’re now able to be the first to work with them directly on regulated bridging too.
“They’ve been one of the most proactive brokers during the pandemic, which has strengthened our relationship even further.
“We look forward to working closely with them to provide quick, competitive, and flexible regulated bridging solutions.”