Our Team
Experienced, pragmatic and motivated to lend
Introduction
With over 200 years of combined real estate experience, the Zorin team is perfectly equipped to understand our borrowers and their business needs. In their lifetime, our employees have originated in excess of 3bn worth of loans across 700 facilities, including senior debt, mezzanine finance and joint venture equity. Between us, we have the knowledge to structure debt across multiple asset classes including: residential, hotels, commercial and student accommodation, making us a one stop shop for our clients.
Management Team
Luke Townsend
Luke’s career began in the media industry working for Clear Channel, The Wall Street Journal and AOL-Time Warner. A passion for property led to a change in profession and he began developing and re-purposing prime real estate in London with great success. However, his frustration with the service he received from banks during this time led him to consider a better way of lending and in 2011 he established Zorin Finance. During his tenure as CEO from 2011 – 2023, Luke led the business to become a market leader in UK alternative real estate finance, with a loan book of c.£800m. He has personally invested in over 200 real estate loans and equity investments and continues to support the business as a shareholder and Non-Executive Chairman.
Benoit Vanpoperinghe
Benoit has over 25 years' experience in commercial real estate finance, securitisation and capital markets, having previously held positions at Barclays, Morgan Stanley and Fitch Ratings. Throughout his career, Benoit has held roles in real estate finance, including real estate loan origination and execution in UK/Europe, real estate loan underwriting and credit analysis. Benoit was previously trading real estate backed bonds at Barclays, as well as managing a portfolio of legacy bonds and structuring real estate fixed income securities.
Andrew Scotting
Andrew has over 30 years' experience within the real estate finance industry, having previously held positions at Pluto Finance, Heritable Bank and Investec. Andrew has structured hundreds of real estate transactions both in the UK and Europe and has extensive expertise in the stretched senior debt and mezzanine finance sectors. In addition to his excellent loan origination and relationship management skills, Andrew is a seasoned credit risk analyst with a strong background in distressed debt work-outs. Andrew holds a BA hons degree in Estate Management from Reading University.
Richard Gosden
Richard has over 25 years' experience within the banking industry, with a particular focus on Real Estate Finance. Prior to joining Zorin, Richard held positions at Barclays Bank, Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank and most recently a privately funded development lender. Richard has assessed, documented and managed a wealth of residential development transactions, UK wide, over his career as well as having considerable experience in distressed debt work-out and recovery together with documenting European hotel transactions.
Alexander Banbury
Alex has over 15 years' banking and financial services experience. Prior to joining Zorin, he was a Director in the commercial real estate team at a challenger bank, originating and executing commercial and residential investment loans. He has broad credit experience, having previously focused on SME finance and debt advisory at the bank. Prior to this, Alex worked in renewable energy investment and development. He started his career in investor relations, advising UK listed companies and alternative investment funds.
Vinod Vijaya
Having previously held senior positions at Barclays, Funding Circle and more recently BAWAG P.S.K. Vinod has over 15 years’ experience in originating, executing and structuring real estate transactions both in the UK and Western Europe. He has extensive experience in structuring senior debt for both development and investment transactions and more recently has been engaged in organising loan on loan and warehouse funding lines. In addition to his extensive relationship management skills he has a thorough understanding of risk modelling and analysis.
Tim Phillips
Tim has worked within the Real Estate Finance sector for more than 15 years, and has held senior positions in Barclays, Paragon and most recently HTB. He has vast experience in originating and structuring senior debt for both development and investment transactions. Passionate about creating strong and lasting relationships he also has extensive credit risk capabilities.
George Cresswell
With a strong background in Real Estate Finance, George brings over 6 years of experience to his role as Lending Manager at Zorin Finance. Having previously worked with a specialist lender focused on short-term property finance, he has successfully executed numerous bridging and development loans. Now, George has honed his expertise in structuring debt and managing client relationships, concentrating on identifying and developing new business opportunities while maintaining strong client connections.
Anna Niven
Anna's current role at Zorin entails providing valuable support to the origination team, where she conducts thorough assessments and formulates models for loan applications. Prior to joining Zorin, Anna gained expertise in loan origination through her internship with the Real Assets Finance team at HSBC Investment Bank. She holds a BSc with Honors in Mathematics and a MSc in Banking and Finance, both earned from Newcastle University.
Christopher Hunter
Christopher has over 25 years' experience covering real estate finance in both investment and commercial banking. Prior to joining Zorin, Christopher held directorships at both Deutsche Hypo Bank Hanover and ABN Amro. More recently he held a senior recovery and credit position with private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co., Ltd and has a broad experience in structuring both regulated and unregulated residential development transactions. During his career he has held both the Islamic Finance Qualification and the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice.
Aminah Malik
Aminah’s responsibilities at Zorin include the underwriting and execution of new loans as well as the ongoing management of the current loan book. Her experience in development finance spans origination, loan closing and credit. Previously she worked for a specialist residential development lender and spent 5 years at HSBC Private Bank specialising in credit analysis and the structuring and management of large residential real estate transactions for international clients. In addition to a degree in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies from Mount Holyoke College, MA, she has a legal background having completed her Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course.
Michael McNally
Prior to joining Zorin, Michael was a Director in the commercial real estate team of Allied Irish Bank (GB), managing relationships with a number of commercial investment and residential development clients. Michael has over 23 years' banking experience holding positions in AIB Capital Markets, DVB Bank London and Banca Popolare di Milano. During this time, he gained a wide exposure into corporate banking, project finance, syndications and distressed debt in the UK and several international jurisdictions.
James Walker
Having graduated from Royal Holloway University with a First Class Honours degree, James subsequently won a scholarship to Cass Business School to study for an MSc in Real Estate. The course, one of the UK’s leading for aspiring real estate professionals, covered a broad background to include modules in statistics, applied appraisal, development and financial modelling which supplemented his knowledge gained from work experience. On completing the course in August 2020, James joined Zorin Finance as a Lending Analyst, supporting the origination team by evaluating and modelling loan applications at an early stage to ensure they meet the company’s lending criteria.
Tom Laslett
Tom graduated from the London School of Economics in July 2021, with a BSc Hons in Accounting and Finance. Upon completion of his degree he joined OakNorth Bank as an Analyst in their Debt Finance Team. There he spent 2 years working on a range of Real Estate transactions, gaining a wide array of experience in the sector from modelling initial credit applications to deal execution. Tom joined Zorin Finance in July 2023 as a Risk Operations Executive assisting the Credit Risk team with underwriting and executing new transactions, as well as helping to manage the existing portfolio.
Declan Smith
Declan has over 10 years’ experience in design, construction and development, having previously held roles in architecture, project management and development monitoring. He is an ARB registered architect and member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, while also holding a number of qualifications including recently completing an Msc. in Property Finance at the University of Westminster. Previously, Declan has worked at Gardiner & Theobald, Cushman & Wakefield and architects MoreySmith. His experience acting on behalf of private clients, commercial occupiers and institutional funders as designer, project manager and funding monitor, allows a holistic understanding of the complete development cycle.
Paul Jayes
Paul has a wealth of knowledge and understanding of the property, development and construction industries that has been gained from over 30 years of delivering projects as a Cost Consultant and Project Manager. Paul has worked with large multi-national corporations and small national consultancies and all parties associated with the development cycle from Architects and Engineers to Lawyers and Tax specialists. His expertise allows him to provide insight into the risks encountered during the development and construction process so that he can provide management and guidance on how to mitigate these and ensure that developments are completed successfully. Paul holds a BSc (Hons) Degree in Commercial Management and Quantity Surveying and is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS).
Dr Alexander Moss
Alex is responsible for all operational functions within the business, including: transaction support, reconciliation, fund accounting, cash management and data and information management. He also utilises his extensive analytical, research and computing expertise to support the company’s technology aspirations. Alex holds a PhD in Education and Professional studies from King’s and Imperial College London, a First Class BSc (Hons) degree in Computer Science from Keele University, and an MSc in Modern Japanese Studies from the University of Oxford.
Nikolay Nikolov
Nikolay has over 20 years of experience covering broad asset classes, including real estate finance in both investment and corporate banking at CBRE, KBC Bank N.V, Bulgarian American Credit Bank, and UniCredit Bank. At Zorin he is responsible for the operational functions within the business, including: transaction support, reconciliation, fund accounting, cash management. Nikolay holds an MBA degree from Grenoble Graduate School of Business.
Afzal Ahmed
Afzal is our lead software developer responsible for building and aiding in the design of our bespoke in-house software solutions. Having started his career in the IT industry over 23 years ago, he has amassed extensive experience across the full suite of software development technologies specialising in C#, asp.net core, angular, Azure and AWS Micro services. Before joining Zorin, Afzal developed applications for many leading companies across a range of sectors including household names such as Lloyds Bank, Santander, The London Stock exchange, Cancer Research UK and The British Heart Foundation.
Grace Rowan
Grace graduated from Glasgow University with a BSc Hons in English Literature. She remained in Scotland, becoming an Executive Client Advisor for Vegware. During this time she account managed their key clientele based both in the UK and Europe, and was instrumental in the opening of a second European warehouse in Amsterdam. Joining Zorin in March 2023, Grace now leads Zorin's day to day office management and external marketing. She also assists with compliance matters and is conducting client AML/ KYC onboarding.