Certainty and clarity from professionals

Rory joined Sancus in January 2021 from The Somerston Group where he managed their European real estate platform. Rory has over 20 years experience in the UK and European property market. He has an extensive track record in M&A, corporate finance, capital raising, debt finance, investment management and property development.

Dan has worked in the finance industry since 1999.

He started his career as a solicitor at Linklaters LLP after reading law at Merton College, Oxford University. After six years working on the legal aspects of structured transactions in real estate, trade and acquisition finance, Dan joined the Strategic Transactions Group at Lloyds Banking Group, originating and executing structured funding and investment transactions for the bank and its clients.

He joined Varengold Bank AG,  a small German private bank, in 2015 to head its London office and help develop its prime brokerage business and build a credit book focused on receivables and real estate finance. Dan has completed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst examinations.

Dan became Managing Director of Sancus Finance in January 2018.

Emma is a Fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and qualified with Deloitte in 2004. Prior to joining GLI in 2013 she was Head of Business Analysis and Projects at Sportingbet, an online gaming company from January 2007 to October 2013 where she was responsible for formulating strategy across Europe and Emerging Markets. From November 2004 to January 2007 Emma worked as an Account Manager at Marsh Management Services (Guernsey) Limited, a Captive Insurance Company. Emma joined the Sancus Lending Group’s board in September 2014.

Michael joined Sancus in August 2018, heading up their office in Ireland.

He has 20 years’ experience in financial services including 16 years in banking and real estate finance.

Prior to joining Sancus, Michael worked for Barclays for 12 years. From 2012 he was a Director in their Corporate Real Estate Finance Department in Ireland, focussed on investment and development property finance transactions for institutional, large corporate borrowers and private clients. His responsibilities included a leadership role across origination, structuring and execution in both Ireland and the UK. Michael also worked on a number of loan restructurings in Barclays and for two years he also worked in the Investment Bank, Barclays Capital, where his responsibilities included the origination and execution of investment property transactions on a pan-European basis for securitisation into the capital markets.

Prior to Barclays, Michael worked in Corporate and Property Finance at Ulster Bank in Dublin. He was initially responsible for a portfolio of small and mid-cap corporate borrowers, typically providing working capital finance. Latterly he worked on sourcing larger ticket property development transactions.

Michael began his career in the Financial Services department of KPMG in Dublin where he worked for four years. Michael is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Mr Whittle has a background in the high tech service industry and more recently large third party Fund Administration. He has in-depth experience of strategic development and mergers/acquisitions. He has experience of listed company boards as well as the private equity, property and fund of funds sectors. He is currently a director of Starwood European Real Estate Finance Limited (listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange), Chenavari Toro Income Fund Limited (admitted to trading on the Specialist Fund Market of the London Stock Exchange) and Globalworth Real Estate Investment (“Globalworth”) listed on AIM. Mr Whittle, a Chartered Accountant, has also served as Finance Director of Close Fund Services Limited (responsible for internal finance and client financial reporting), Managing Director of Hugh Symons Group PLC and Finance Director and Deputy MD of Talkland International Limited (now Vodafone Retail). Mr Whittle is Chairman of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee and the Audit & Risk Committee.

Mr. Firth is a director of a number of offshore funds and management companies and until June 2009 was managing director of Butterfield Fulcrum (formerly Butterfield Fund Services (Guernsey) Limited). Prior to joining Butterfield Fund Services (Guernsey) Limited, Mr. Firth was head of operations and subsequently managing director of BISYS Fund Services (Guernsey) Limited, where he was responsible for the administration of both offshore and onshore (FSA regulated) funds. Mr. Firth qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1990 having worked in the audit departments in Cambridge and Guernsey. Mr. Firth graduated from the University of Newcastle and received a Masters degree from Bath University. Mr. Firth is Chairman of the Board.

Mr Smith was formerly an Executive Director and the Chief Investment Officer of The British Land Company plc, the FTSE 100 real estate investment trust, with responsibility for the group’s property and investment strategy, standing down in 2013. Prior to this, Mr Smith was Global Head of Asset Management and Transactions at AXA Real Estate Investment Managers, where he was responsible for the asset management of a portfolio of assets valued at more than €40 billion on behalf of life funds, listed property vehicles, unit linked and closed end funds. Prior to joining AXA in 1999, Mr Smith was Managing Director at Sun Life Properties for over five years. Over the last decade, Mr Smith has worked extensively in governance related roles for a number of real estate focused organisations. Mr Smith is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and Remuneration and Nomination Committee.

Mr. Smith was appointed to the Board on 11 May 2021. He is resident in the UK.

Nick Wakefield is an Investment Director for Somerston Group and Managing Director of Somerston Asset Management Limited. Nick has 20 years’ investment experience in both private and public investments. He is a CFA and CMT charterholder.

Emilie joined Sancus Limited in February 2015 as a Legal Executive and has over 25 years’ banking experience.

She began work at The Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited in 1995 where she worked in various corporate banking roles, eventually leading the Corporate Documentation and Security team, responsible for overseeing the lending and credit stewardship process for four offshore jurisdictions. This involved a large and diverse lending book from small local businesses to sizeable fund transactions.

Emilie’s knowledge covers a wide range of banking aspects including payments, customer due diligence, lending, security and credit.

Stuart joined Sancus Limited in Jersey in December 2016 as Business Development Manager after 38 years banking experience with the RBS Group.

He started his career in 1978 with RBS in Glasgow, before moving to London in 1980, followed by a move to Jersey in 1985.

In the last 20 years , Stuart specialised in the provision of banking services to the important Trust Funds & Intermediary markets in Jersey, and has built up a significant network of clients & contacts from that area.

By way of leisure activities Stuart is an active golfer at the Royal Jersey Golf Club, and a keen cyclist who achieved a long-standing ambition in 2016 of climbing the Pyrenees in a charity cycle challenge.

Steve joined Sancus Limited in July 2014 as Business Development Manager and has over 40 years banking experience.

He started his career in 1973 with Midland Bank based in Lymington. Steve moved to Jersey in 1976 gaining retail banking experience in various roles until 1987 when he joined Charterhouse Bank where he was a member of their Credit Committee. He also worked for RBS looking after International clients before moving to HSBC in 1992 working with corporate and commercial clients.

Steve transferred to HSBC’s Personal Banking department, eventually leading a local Premier Banking team within HSBC and more latterly acting as a Senior Premier Manager to a small portfolio of Jersey clients with complex banking needs.

Steve’s knowledge covers all aspects of banking including payments, FX, mortgages, deposits, lending and client relationship management.

By way of leisure activities Steve is an active golfer being a long time member of the Royal Jersey Golf Club and also sits on the junior committee of St Pauls Football Club.

Shaida has over 25 years’ experience primarily in the trust industry and is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators. Prior to joining Sancus (Jersey) Limited in 2015, Shaida was Head of New Business and Company Secretary for Trident Trust Company Limited for over 10 years, and she brings her knowledge and experience gained from a compliance and company secretarial perspective to the Sancus Group.

Shaida speaks a number of languages and is fluent in Spanish and French. She has attained 3 university degrees in modern languages applied to law, economics, marketing and translation through an Erasmus programme hosted by Thames Valley University, la Universidad de Granada and l’Universite d’Aix-Marseille.

Shaida’s professional career started in 1995 with Canal Trust in Jersey (the trust arm of Bilbao Vizcaya Bank), and 2 years later she left to join Mourant & Co. specifically to administer a portfolio of South American trust and corporate clients. Shaida was later asked to join Centre Trust Limited before completing her training and qualifying as a Chartered Secretary in 2000. She then went on to become a Director of Client Services with Zenith Trust Company Limited before steering away from client administration and concentrating on compliance and statutory spheres.

Shaida has an International Diploma in Corporate Governance, Risk and Compliance.

In her free time, Shaida enjoys long walks with her daughter, Emily and dog, Charlie.

Amanda joined Sancus (Jersey) Limited in January 2017 as Head of Marketing.

Following her degree in business, Amanda trained at Price Waterhouse before becoming financial controller of an international marketing company, this was followed by a range of marketing and business development roles before starting her own business in import and distribution.

Amanda’s career has given her a unique perspective and understanding of the needs and demands of SMEs and the constraints on resources in growing a company.

Ryan has been with Sancus Group for 3 years as Financial Controller, having joined the company from a Financial Reporting and Operational Risk Management role in a leading Jersey banking institution.

Ryan is a qualified accountant with 8 years of financial services experience and also has extensive experience working within the areas of Audit, Accountancy and Tax, gained during his 3 years working for a leading independent firm of accountants in Jersey Channel Islands.

Hayley has been working as PA to the Group CEO since June 2014. Prior to joining the team, Hayley began her career in various roles in the travel industry, eventually specialising in business travel.  Hayley then moved to Ermitage in 2004, managing travel for the Group, subsequently moving to the role of PA. Hayley then worked as PA for the Executive Team at Feelunique before joining Sancus.  Hayley recently qualified the Level 3 Certificate in HR.

Richard has over 18 years’ experience in invoice finance, asset based lending, supply chain finance and trade finance.

His roles have included working at both independent and bank owned funders in the UK, Ireland and Germany, including Aldermore Bank, AIB Plc, and Royal Bank of Scotland Invoice Finance.

He has been integral in developing and delivering sales at a strategic level and has a track record in achieving performance objectives with a keen eye on returns. He has an excellent reputation in leadership roles within both sales and relationship management.

Richard became sales director at Sancus in June 2016 and was appointed to the board in March 2017.

Bob has over 40 years’ experience in banking, and in particular in Property Finance.

His previous roles have included Head Office, Credit, Origination and Team leadership roles with NatWest / Royal Bank of Scotland and Metro Bank.

Bob has a strong track record in facilitating and completing lending transactions, and in leading SME and Real Estate Finance teams.

Emma is an experienced Commercial Finance Business Development Manager with extensive knowledge of property lending and a proven track record in building business relationships with banks, solicitors, accountants, auction houses and property developers.

Emma has worked for Clever Lending, Together Money and Hope Capital in national Business Development roles, opening accounts, designing new products and successfully operating in fast paced business environments, with an emphasis on completing loans for clients within tight timeframes.

She previously owned and operated her own brokerage business in the North East, working with most of the leading estate agents in that area.

Sam has worked in the high pressure, target driven area of bridging and development finance since 2017. He has experience of short term lending in the regulated and unregulated space, dealing with mortgage advisers, brokers, surveyors and solicitors with an emphasis on generating and building new business.

Prior to joining Sancus, Sam worked for First 4 Bridging, initially as Relationship Manager then moving on to Business Development Manager, responsible for managing new and existing accounts nationwide. Sam also worked for Santander as a personal banker at the start of his financial career.

Gary joined Sancus Finance in March 2017 as Credit Director.

He has over 30 years’ experience in commercial and corporate banking, primarily at HSBC. He gained experience in various roles at the bank including corporate, credit, legal and audit – managing complex lending relationships including acquisition funding, MBOs and multi-phased property developments. He also worked in Guernsey for over two years, giving him an appreciation of the issues associated with operating in different legal jurisdictions.

Gary has a wealth of experience lending money in a wide variety of situations with particular strength in managing and mitigating risk.

Paddy has over 20 years’ experience working within the financial services industry, with the last 6 years specialising in the compliance field.

Paddy joined Sancus in October 2017 from Fiat Chrysler Automotive Services where he was the compliance lead for three UK entities, reporting to the Italian Head Office.

With his particular experience of dealing with the UK regulator and knowledge of anti-money laundering and data protection regulations he works closely with the compliance departments of Sancus Funding Ltd, Sancus Finance Ltd and with all our off-shore operations.

James has over 13 years experience in the UK and European real estate market.

James has extensive experience across the corporate real estate, investment and property development sectors. For the past 6 years James’ has led Somerstons land development business, a strategic land and development focused business with capacity for in excess of 2,350 units within its strategic portfolio. James holds a BSc in Investment and Finance in Property from the University of Reading and is MRICS accredited. James joined Sancus in January 2021.

Shaun began his career in banking where he spent 10 years covering various roles throughout retail banking, before moving on to work for a specialist mortgage servicing provider, as part of their commercial team. He then worked in the area of bridging and development finance before moving to London to work for a short-term finance lender.

Shaun worked as part of the servicing team and portfolio management teams at Amicus Finance and LendInvest respectively before joining Sancus’ credit team to help continue the growth of the business including facilitating and managing new and existing credit facilities.

Steven Simpson has over 26 years’ experience in the design, implementation and administration of secure and highly available enterprise and web-based solutions for corporate customers across various sectors including finance and telecoms. He started with Nokia, going on to work for Hewlett Packard’s mission critical consultancy team.

In 2013 Steven joined Platform Black on a permanent basis as CTO and in 2016 he joined GLI (an investor in Platform Black) as their Head of Group IT to develop the Sancus Loan Management System and platforms. In 2017 Steven moved to the Sancus Group as their Head of Group IT.

Karen has over 30 years’ banking experience covering operational banking roles, including Retail Banking, Risk & Control, Project Support and Operational Management.

Karen began her career in 1988 at Barclays in Manchester City and then onto London, covering various banking roles. In 2003, she moved to Gibraltar and joined the Barclays branch there as an Operational Risk Manager. More recently, Karen has managed the Operational Teams having oversight and responsibility for the banking services, account opening, payments and credit teams. Karen also led the Operational Teams through Barclays’s strategic change programme.

Lino moved to Gibraltar from the UK in 1985.

He joined Royal Bank of Scotland in 1990, working his way to the role of Head of Mortgages, a position he held from 2006 to 2010.

Lino then moved to NatWest as Head of Premium Banking and Mortgages in 2010, where he stayed until moving to Sancus (Gibraltar) in 2016.

Over this time Lino has gained great experience in the area of mortgages, lending and credit and is well known throughout the Gibraltar business community.

Geoff has 18 years’ experience in financial services including 14 years in real estate and banking and is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland.

Prior to joining Sancus, Geoff was managing director of Situs Asset Management, Ireland where he set up and grew the Dublin office of the international loan servicing and commercial real estate advisory business.

Before Situs, Geoff worked for five years as a team leader in the asset recovery division of the National Asset Management Agency where he managed a team overseeing a portfolio of real estate loans totalling circa €1.5 billion of par debt. His responsibilities included approving and arranging debt financing for residential developments and capex projects on commercial properties.

Prior to this, Geoff worked for 5 years in Avestus Capital Partners on both the origination and finance teams. He was responsible for arranging the financing and structuring for the acquisition of large ticket commercial properties and latterly for leading the finance function on a portfolio of commercial properties worth circa €1 billion.

Geoff began his career in the Investment Management division of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dublin where he worked for four years, followed by two years in the International Acquisition Finance team at Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking.