Pallas Capital appoints Rix as head of credit risk
Specialist bridging and development finance lender Pallas Capital has recruited Darren Rix has its head of credit risk, bringing 37 years of banking experience to the role.
Rix’s work history includes 28 years in retail banking across corporate real estate and credit risk, through senior roles at Barclays, Bank of Scotland and Santander. He then led a project covering mixed real estate assets for a private equity firm, then was head of credit at two start-up non-bank lenders, focused on development finance.
He was most recently head of real estate credit risk at Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) for nearly six years.
Rix said: “Having worked through the financial crash and several cycles since, I know what disciplined credit risk looks like when markets get difficult, and what it takes to back the right developers through them. Pallas Capital has real ambition, and this is a fresh challenge for me. I want to help build the business into a formidable lender and the go-to name in our market.”
He said the market had been through a difficult period since Covid and was still recovering, adding: “Labour and material costs remain elevated, and political and economic uncertainty continues to weigh on decision-making, while the war in Ukraine has constrained the supply of key materials.”
Rix said the planning process continued to be a “significant obstacle”, even with a growing pipeline of development activity.
Aldermore Insights with Jon Cooper: Edition 10 – The biggest barrier to homeownership isn’t affordability. It’s outdated lending.
Sponsored by Aldermore
He added: “While that uncertainty persists, we want to be the lender that SME and mid-level developers can rely on. We’re increasingly seeing a slight shift away from main contractors, given a number of failures in that space, towards developers who self-deliver through construction management, with loyal labour pools, reliable suppliers and better process control.
“That’s exactly the kind of borrower Pallas Capital is built to support.”
Uliana Kuzmis, chief credit officer at Pallas Capital, said: “Darren is one of the strongest credit professionals I have ever come across. His experience spans multiple cycles and covers exactly the segment of the market we focus on bridging for experienced borrowers and development finance for SME and mid-level developers.
“Darren’s appointment reflects the scale our UK team and pipeline have reached, and the importance we place on maintaining rigorous credit standards together with speed and efficiency as we grow. He is a strong addition to Pallas’ management team, and I’m looking forward to working closely with him again.”
Pallas Capital launched in the UK earlier this year.
