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23 August 2011

Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank (�WLB�) has announced the acquisition of Link Loans, the specialist lender that provides a range of both secured and unsecured loans to personal borrowers. Operating from Brentwood and Manchester, WLB is a specialist bank with a traditional business model of providing savings and lending to both business and personal customers. The bank was acquired by RBS Equity Finance in January of this year, shortly after which it acquired the new business platform of Commercial First; a market leading commercial mortgage lender. The bank has been originating commercial mortgage business since April of this year, and the Link transaction enables WLB to accelerate its ambitions in the personal lending markets. Commenting on today�s announcement, Stephen Johnson, New Business Director at WLB said: �WLB has ambitious plans to develop a diversified lending business across a range of commercial and personal lending markets. Link loans has made a real impact in the secured loan market, achieving an enviable reputation for its service delivery and product innovation, and we believe it is a business that will benefit greatly from being part of a specialist bank. These benefits are perfectly illustrated by the exciting range of new products Link is now bringing to the market.� Philip George joint Managing Director at Link Loans added, �The Link Loans teams are delighted to be joining WLB, a business with a strong heritage and an exciting future. We are passionate about the intermediary channel and the importance of secured loans within the wider mortgage market. By joining the bank we will be able to leverage our key strengths of product innovation and market leading service, and with access to retail funding we are able to deliver a wider range of even more competitively priced products. We are wasting no time in making this deal work for Link and are delighted to be announcing a complete revamp of our entire product range�. �We are making a big statement of intent, as the Link product range has been radically extended to cover the whole market up to and including a 7.9% product for prime borrowers looking to raise up to �100k. Link is now offering a much broader product range at more competitive pricing as we immediately pass on the benefits of being within the bank; it feels good to be able to repay the faith shown in us by our key brokers. We believe we can play a key role in the much needed promotion of secured loans as a viable alternative to remortgaging. Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank will be rebranding in the autumn of this year, at which point it anticipates operating all current lending and savings activity under one global brand.

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