West One Loans has made a raft of appointments including Paul Simpson as director of lending operations, and Luke O’Sullivan as sales manager.

Simpson joined from Morgan Stanley Bank where he spent five years overseeing its European residential mortgage business. Before that he headed up Money Partners’ underwriting and servicing department for more than six years and also held a similar position at GE Money Home Lending for nearly a decade.

O’Sullivan joined from second charge lender Equifinance where he was initially new business manager before becoming a director in July 2014. Prior to that he was head of secured lending at Money Debt & Credit Group and loans and underwriting manager at Central Trust.

There are also five new other starters at the lender’s Borehamwood base, with Graham Stanbridge joining as an investor manager and Danny Soltock boosting the sales team.

Between them the recruits have 100 years of financial services experience.

Danny Waters, chief executive of Enra Group, West One’s parent, said: “Our recently released gross lending figures for 2015 show that we completed almost £400m of business in 2015 and we fully intend to better that volume in the coming 12 months.

“To help us achieve this ambition – and to cope with ever-growing demand – we have identified a collection of high-calibre individuals who will help move the lending arm of the business on to the next level, ably supported by new arrivals in other departments of the wider group.

“They bring with them a wealth of experience from a range of renowned organisations across the financial services and property spectrums and will undoubtedly have innovative ideas as to what the next stage of our development looks like.

“With the Mortgage Credit Directive being implemented in March, it is an exciting juncture not just for as a business, but for specialist finance as a whole. We are confident these new appointments put us in prime position to capitalise on the raft of opportunities this new regime presents.”