Initiative Ireland, the property finance and impact investment specialist, today announced that it plans to expand operations to fund the construction of additional energy efficient, social and affordable houses across Ireland and into the UK market.
As part of its expansion strategy Initiative Ireland is growing its team and today also announced the appointment of Bryan Scannell as the company’s new Director of Property Lending. Initiative Ireland will be making a number of additional senior appointments during the year.
Initiative Ireland is a private company which was founded in 2015 and operates Ireland’s largest property lending marketplace. The company, headquartered at NovaUCD, the Centre for New Ventures and Entrepreneurs at University College Dublin, is supported by Enterprise Ireland as a high-potential start-up.
Initiative Ireland manages an impact investor community, comprising of funds, Irish businesses and investors, who co-fund construction projects to build social and affordable houses by providing experienced developers with short-term, senior, secured property loans.
To date over €25 million in loans has been co-funded by Initiative Ireland’s investor community to support such housing projects nationwide. The company now plans to expand its investor community into the UK in 2020, in addition to expanding into the Northern Ireland lending market.
Padraig W. Rushe, CEO, Initiative Ireland, said, “At Initiative Ireland we support smaller development projects, providing a good return for our clients while also helping to deliver much needed social and affordable housing. To date we have seen the positive impact our model and in 2020 we will be looking to expand our offering into the UK market, in addition to scaling up our impact across Ireland, including Northern Ireland.”
Bryan Scannell has over 12 years of lending experience within the Irish, US and UK markets. Having previously held roles with Ulster Bank and AIB, he joins Initiative Ireland from WebBank, a US chartered industrial bank which specialises in niche financing solutions and syndicated loans.
Padraig W. Rushe added, “We are delighted to have Bryan join the team. He brings a wealth of specialist lending knowledge to the role. He also understands and shares our values as an impact finance provider. It is essential for us as a company that our team is committed to delivering ethical and financially inclusive solutions that deliver a clear measurable social impact.”
Bryan Scannell, Director of Property Lending, Initiative Ireland, said,” It’s an exciting time to join the company. Having worked for many years in financial services and across many markets, Initiative Ireland stands out as a socially committed and value driven company. As an impact finance provider Initiative Ireland focuses on supporting smaller scale, energy-efficient developments to provide increased diversification to its impact investor community while also helping to deliver homes at speed, supporting community needs. As such I am delighted to join the Initiative Ireland team as it plans to scale operations across Ireland and into the UK.”
Initiative Ireland enables private investors to co-fund property-backed loans, committing as little as €500 per loan alongside its institutional credit partners. This hybrid model promotes financial inclusion and also provides surety of funding to the company’s borrowers. Initiative Ireland’s lending team originate and manage each loan from end-to-end on behalf of investors. Each loan is secured with a first legal charge over the property.
