United Trust Bank (UTB) has promoted Gene Clohessy to director – buy-to-let (BTL) and bridging, giving her responsibility for the sales and underwriting functions across both product areas.

She joined UTB in July 2025 as director of underwriting – bridging, and has two decades of banking and real estate finance experience, including senior roles at LendInvest and Shawbrook.

Her appointment comes after the bank launched its new bridging portal in July, digitising and automating many of the administrative elements of the application journey and enabling brokers to submit and progress cases 24/7.

TAB has completed a £2.8m bridging loan secured against a pair of commercial warehouses in London, providing the borrower with capital to invest in his trading business, repay business debt and support the expansion of his property portfolio.

The commercial mortgage lender and bridging specialist said the £2.8m loan was secured on a first-charge basis, with the 12-month facility advanced at 65% LTV.

The transaction formed part of a wider funding round, with total net advances across two loans reaching £3.59m. The borrower was seeking equity from investment properties to inject capital into the trading business, repay existing business debt and provide funds to expand his property portfolio.

e4 Strategic has joined the Project 28 Charter, supporting the industry-wide drive to create faster and more certain property transactions.

Project 28 brings together lenders, conveyancers estate agents and technology providers around an ambition to reduce the time between sale agreed and exchange to 28 days.

The charter sets out eight commitments aimed at tackling delays and improving the way information moves between parties. These include earlier instruction of seller-side conveyancers, greater provision of upfront property information, better access to trusted digital data, and secure sharing of key documents.

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