Meet our Lending Director for Scotland, Jamie Drummond

1.What inspired you to pursue a career in property finance, and what led you to join Pluto Finance?

I was in a corporate banking role in a clearing bank, enjoying it, but realised I had done every role except property finance. I decided to give it a try and absolutely loved it ! Haven’t looked back and enjoy being able to play my part in creating great property for all to enjoy, the transactional nature of the role, and the sense of community the industry creates.

I decided I had reached the stage in my career where I wanted to use my market contacts and relationships to help create a business in a new market and saw the perfect opportunity in Pluto, a progressive high- quality business looking to establish itself in the Scottish market.

2.How does Pluto Finance differentiate itself from other lenders in the bridging and development finance sector?

Pluto is the only lender in the market who can support borrowers at all ends of the leverage and loan size spectrums. We really understand development finance and can offer facilities which are tailor made to meet borrower requirements and are cost effective relative to the market. Although we’re relatively small we have full UK market coverage and, more recently, pan European. We can move quickly in any situation to support our borrowers.

3.What do you think are the biggest opportunities for developers in the UK ( or Scottish) property market over the next few years?

The market is constantly changing and evolving and each of the sub asset classes behaves differently in the market dynamic. I see opportunities emerging in the office sector as the occupational market settles down after lockdown and occupiers have a clearer picture of their requirements and the central role their office plays in the success of their business. I also see growth in the retail sector, particularly convenience retail, well -located purpose -built logistics, and living space more generally.

4.How does the Scottish property market differ from the rest of the UK, and how is Pluto Finance adapting to that?

Whilst Scotland has always had strong and ambitious property developers their access to sensibly priced and tailored financial solutions has become more limited especially when compared to other parts of the UK. Pluto spotted the opportunity to help support developers with it’s smart and flexible lending, which is unique in the market, having the ability to support all asset classes, differing leverage requirements, and sizes of projects. Pluto has moved to establish a team in Scotland and also a new office which is located amongst many of the developers in Edinburgh West End. Pluto is fast becoming established as the go to lender in the Scottish developer ecosystem. Our pipeline of new opportunities is growing steadily and we’re already in legals on several transactions which will complete over the next few weeks, with others following hard on their heels.

Pluto’s entry in the Scottish market is bringing fresh energy and momentum to Scottish developers as well as the Scottish economy.

5.What’s one piece of advice you’d give to brokers and developers seeking funding in the current market?

I think to really understand the transaction, both the granular detail and the bigger picture, and present in as a simple a way as possible. Don’t hide the issues, just deal with them head on (they are always there !).

6.What’s something most people don’t know about Pluto Finance that you wish they did?

I think for me the quality of the business is sometimes hard to get over to borrowers because we’re small. Our £2bn lending programme with Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, is helping get the message across.

7.If you were not working in specialist finance, what would you be doing?

Running a really great fly -fishing shop in an exotic fly -fishing location somewhere in the world.

8.If you could host a dinner party with three famous figures (past or present), who would they be and why?

That’s an easy one, Andrew Carnegie, Winston Churchhill, and Sarah Smith – fireworks around the dinner table !

9.Favourite sport team?

Another easy one, the Scotland rugby team !