SME lender appoints new sales manager for WA/SA

The Scotsman has held a range of business finance roles in Scotland over the past two decades, including spending 10 years at Royal Bank of Scotland, where he was regional director of client services.

Mr Waldman was also regional managing director at Aldermore Bank for 10 years, and more recently held the role of group sales director for ultimate Finance Group in Glasgow.

He moved to Australia in January of this year, taking up his new position at Scottish Pacific.

In his new role, Mr Waldman will work with commercial finance brokers, accountants and their small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) clients to help ensure local businesses can access the funds they need to grow by using invoice finance, trade finance, import finance, asset finance and bad debt protection.

Announcing the appointment, Scottish Pacific’s head of client acquisition, Wayne Smith, commented: “In Richard we have someone with extensive industry expertise who can help local businesses with the right funding.” 

Mr Waldman stated: “Business owners have so much more than a bank overdraft at their disposal when it comes to funding their enterprises – but so many are still not aware of their options.

“I’ve seen very viable, solid businesses not be able to find funding with the banks. SMEs are the lifeblood of the Australian economy, and if we can introduce more businesses in WA and SA to better funding options, it’s a win for the sector and the whole economy.”

He concluded: “I’m looking forward to working with SMEs and their accountants and commercial brokers in showing them a broader range of workable funding options.”

Mr Waldman joins Scottish Pacific as it looks to grow its footprint in Australia through the acquisition of non-bank debtor finance specialist CML Group, competing against an offer from Australia’s largest asset finance group, Consolidated Operations Group (COG).

CML Group announced earlier this month that it is progressing “favourably” with its due diligence on Scottish Pacific regarding its non-binding offer and that the board is working towards procuring a binding offer from Scottish Pacific.

The move followed hot on the heels of COG acquiring a relevant interest in 17.36 per cent of the issued voting shares in CML as a result of various on-market acquisitions, which led to CML applying to the court to defer its scheme meeting regarding the COG merger to “consider the implications of this”.

The court has adjourned the court proceedings to a time yet to be fixed by the court. An update is expected in the coming days.

[Related: Scottish Pacific looks to buy CML Group]