Pepper expands commercial BDM team

Pepper Money has announced a range of appointments and changes to its commercial sales team.

Michael Balshaw - who was most recently a BDM at ALI Group and has previously worked in similar roles at Connective, NAB, and Suncorp - has joined Pepper Money’s team in Victoria as a commercial BDM.

Former Capital Advantage finance broker Matthew Taylor, who also has extensive banking BDM experience (including at Bankwest, NAB and Macquarie), has also joined the Victorian team in the same position.

Several change have also been made internally.

Cameron Louden, who was previously Pepper Money’s commercial BDM for Vic/Tas/SA/NT has moved to Queensland, establishing a local presence for the specialist lender.

Meanwhile, relationship manager Andrea Torres has been promoted to a commercial BDM role in NSW.

Speaking of the appointments, Malcolm Withers, Pepper Money’s head of commercial, said: “These appointments are a direct reflection of the increasing broker support Pepper Money is providing as we continue to grow and help more Australian business owners achieve their financial goals with commercial lending needs.

“Commercial lending gives mortgage brokers more opportunities to diversify and help their customers succeed, building stronger customer relationships and becoming their go-to person, not just for their home loan but also for business solutions,” he continued.

“The team and I are passionate about making commercial lending more accessible to brokers, and fundamental to that is more broker education. 

“With these new and promoted appointments, we can do this for more brokers and continue to provide the first class level of service Pepper Money is known for.”

Mr Withers suggested that the lender would be rolling out new broker education webinars around commercial lending in the coming weeks.

As well as new commercial BDMs, the non-bank this week welcomed Barry Saoud as its new general manager, mortgages and commercial lending.

Mr Saoud started his new role on Tuesday (20 July 2021), replacing Aaron Milburn, who has stepped down from his role at the company to take a career break in order to spend more time with his wife and three young children.

The new GM of mortgages and commercial lending was previously the head of Aussie products and company secretary at Aussie. He had previously also been general counsel of Aussie, where he had worked for the past 11 years, and has held responsibility for sales, product, operations, finance and risk, as well as managing a $10 billion home loan portfolio and various insurance and consumer product portfolios. 

Prior to joining Aussie, the finance executive held corporate counsel and company secretary roles with GE Capital,  HSBC and Norton Rose Fulbright. 

[Related: Aaron Milburn to leave finance industry]