Leading peer-to-peer business lending platform ThinCats has appointed John Sharpe as South West and South Wales Manager of its Origination Team, one of several strategic hires designed to strengthen the platform’s reach among small businesses. John’s appointment will ensure that local financial experts looking to fulfil loans for UK-based SMEs will find a knowledgeable and supportive representative to help them arrange funding.

John came to ThinCats from NatWest, where he spent 11 years as a Relationship Manager in both Business and Commercial Banking. Prior to this, he worked at Barclays as a Business Development Manager and at Invoice Finance as an auditor/surveyor, where he gained a wealth of experience. He will be focussing on working with sponsors, introducers and intermediaries throughout the South West, to help and support them through the process of accessing funding for SMEs in the region.

Damon Walford, Chief Development Officer at ThinCats, explains: “John is one of several exciting appointments to the Origination Team, which we feel is now very well placed to understand the needs and wants of UK SMEs, and the Introducers and Sponsors that we work with.

"This model is unique in the P2P sector, using independent financial experts to vet and assess the businesses looking for loans, while providing borrowers with access to funding that may be difficult through traditional channels. The model also offers lenders better information and guarantees a more detailed assessment before they decide on where to invest their funds.”