UK bank NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed Phil Hooper to replace Paul Coates, as head of real estate finance.
Hooper is an internal appointment, and has worked with Coates for the past 12 years in the 300-strong commercial real estate lending business. Since 2014 he has been head of UK housing finance.
Coates is leaving after 16 years at RBS, to join CBRE in April.
Coates led real estate finance for 10 years, through the difficult period after the global financial crash when the bank shrank its property lending, into a more stable era in the last few years when it has written £7bn - £8 bn of new UK property loans and refinancings each year.
The bank is part way through a separation of its activities to meet new UK ring-fencing regulations which come into force on 1 January 2019.
Most real estate finance sits in what was the RBS commercial bank which is being rebranded as NatWest in England and Wales and remaining as RBS in Scotland. Structured loans are issued via NatWest Markets which sits outside the ring-fenced bank.
Property clients range from small firms with borrowing requirements as low as £50,000, to £500 mln for the largest property companies.
Recent loans include acting as lead arranger for a £108.9 mln development loan for Select Property Group’s Affinity Living Build to Rent project in Manchester, and participating in a £500 mln unsecured facility for student accommodation specialist Unite.
Hooper said he is ‘excited to have the opportunity to lead one of the best UK franchises in the real estate sector.’