Tuesday, September 25, 2023
A strong performance by Dunbar Bank's regional office's boost expectations
Strong performance from specialist property lender Dunbar Bank's regional offices has led it to push its new business expectations up for the year by £100m.
In the first quarter Dunbar had said that it expected to achieve £500m of new business by the year end. But by the end of July it had already achieved £370m roughly doubling its new business achieved in the first quarter. By the end of August this had grown to £459m.
Dunbar chief executive Andy Deller said: "Our market has proved very strong. The performance of our regional offices has been particularly pleasing. All of them are up on last year. Birmingham and Newcastle have grown by more than 50% on last year while Leeds and Glasgow have grown their new business books by more than 100%.
"At the current run rate we expect to have closed more than £600m of new business which is well ahead of our earlier expectations and will push our total loan book well over £700m."
Deller said Dunbar with the backing of its Irish-based parent, Zurich Bank can lend up to £50m to a single client and that a strong appetite for this facility had already been demonstrated.
This successful development coincides well with the launch of a new lending team in Dublin, which operates under the Zurich Bank brand in Ireland. The Irish team is led by Zurich Bank's director of property lending Sandra Plunkett. Plunkett was previously divisional director of property lending at Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and prior to that was head of commercial lending at First Active.
In recent weeks Zurich Bank's lending portfolio has included office developments and investments, residential, restaurants, bars, shopping centres, active retirement villages and a major entertainment venue.
Looking ahead Deller said: "Business volumes are still strong, the month ahead looks like one of our best ever with accepted business of £65m already. Should the climate change we can rely on the technical expertise of our lenders. Quality is the watch word. We rely on the quality of our team, and their knowledge will ensure we only back quality clients with quality schemes."
In the first quarter Dunbar had said that it expected to achieve £500m of new business by the year end. But by the end of July it had already achieved £370m roughly doubling its new business achieved in the first quarter. By the end of August this had grown to £459m.
Dunbar chief executive Andy Deller said: "Our market has proved very strong. The performance of our regional offices has been particularly pleasing. All of them are up on last year. Birmingham and Newcastle have grown by more than 50% on last year while Leeds and Glasgow have grown their new business books by more than 100%.
"At the current run rate we expect to have closed more than £600m of new business which is well ahead of our earlier expectations and will push our total loan book well over £700m."
Deller said Dunbar with the backing of its Irish-based parent, Zurich Bank can lend up to £50m to a single client and that a strong appetite for this facility had already been demonstrated.
This successful development coincides well with the launch of a new lending team in Dublin, which operates under the Zurich Bank brand in Ireland. The Irish team is led by Zurich Bank's director of property lending Sandra Plunkett. Plunkett was previously divisional director of property lending at Bank of Scotland (Ireland) and prior to that was head of commercial lending at First Active.
In recent weeks Zurich Bank's lending portfolio has included office developments and investments, residential, restaurants, bars, shopping centres, active retirement villages and a major entertainment venue.
Looking ahead Deller said: "Business volumes are still strong, the month ahead looks like one of our best ever with accepted business of £65m already. Should the climate change we can rely on the technical expertise of our lenders. Quality is the watch word. We rely on the quality of our team, and their knowledge will ensure we only back quality clients with quality schemes."
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