New appointments for lender after Midlands Engine announcement

BCRS Business Loans has expanded its team after winning the tender to deliver small business loans for the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, Supported by the European Regional Development Fund

Two new business development managers and a finance assistant have joined BCRS to ramp up support for West Midlands based businesses.

This update comes after the British Business Bank appointed BCRS Business Loans as the fund manager for the £17 million small business loans, west midlands arm of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.

Tirath Singh and Louise Armstrong join the not-for-profit lender as business development managers, while Laura Cleary was confirmed as finance assistant.

Speaking of his appointment, Tirath said: “I am really excited to have joined BCRS Business Loans, who have an excellent reputation for providing responsible finance and are a lifeline for businesses struggling to access finance from traditional lenders.

“My patch will be the Black Country, so I am looking forward to meeting with businesses face-to-face to truly understand what they are about and provide hands-on support throughout the loan application process.”

Louise Armstrong, who also joins with extensive experience in the banking sector, will cover Birmingham, north Worcestershire and Sandwell.

She commented: “I am looking forward to being able to say yes to viable SMEs, understand what they do and how we can help them.

“We understand that accessing finance can sometimes be a problem and I would urge any business to contact us if they are having difficulty raising some or all of the finance they need. In our eyes, no viable business should go unsupported,” said Louise.

The new appointments take the BCRS team up to seventeen; six of whom are business development managers with dedicated geographical areas of coverage across the whole of the West Midlands and environs.

Paul Kalinauckas, chief executive of BCRS Business Loans, said: “We are delighted to welcome Laura, Louise and Tirath to BCRS. We are aiming to lend £10 million per annum to local SMEs so creating a larger team will make this achievable.

“We believe in supporting local businesses with finance they need to grow and prosper. As an organisation that was set up to provide access to finance for small businesses turned down by the banks, we understand that funding can help increase employment and boost the local economy. Being announced as a fund manager for the Midlands Engine Investment Fund was incredibly exciting and these new appointments demonstrate our commitment to making it a success,” concluded Paul.

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

ENDS

BCRS Business Loans Limited is a registered society, number 29393R, under the Co-operative and Community Benefits Societies Act 2014. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Firm Reference Number 722855.

Further guidance can be found at BCRS and information on MEIF.
Editor's notes - MEIF

Last post