Barney brings more than nine years of property finance experience to the role, having most recently served as a senior lending manager at Blend Network.

Before that, he worked at the Ingenious Group and Nationwide Building Society.

In his new role at HTB, Barney will be responsible for acquiring new development finance business for the bank and developing client relationships into longer-term partnerships.

On his appointment, Barney said: “Developers and housebuilders need to be able to partner with a lender which has a strong appetite to lend and the funds to back up that desire.

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“HTB has both in spades.

 “I am looking forward to utilising my network and experience to ultimately help build more homes.”

Neil Leitch, commercial director of development finance at HTB, said he was “pleased to have been able to add someone of Barney’s evident quality” to the team.

“Despite short term economic challenges, the Bank remains firmly committed to supporting SME developers throughout the UK.

The addition of Barney to the team demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the market and our confidence in the property development sector over the long-term,” he added.