Lenvi expands standby servicing team on rising demand

Lenvi has expanded its standby servicing team by 50% following more than 50 new standby servicing appointments in the past 12 months.

The latest recruitment includes two senior hires: Catherine Foan as Head of Standby Operations and Stacey Chambers as Standby Invocation and Testing Manager. Demand has risen across a range of asset classes.

Over the past year, the new business has added more than £7 billion of funding covered by Lenvi's standby servicing operation. The business now protects more than £48 billion of loan assets across more than 200 funding lines.

The expansion comes as this part of the lending market becomes more visible, with lenders and investors seeking contingency arrangements for loan administration if an originator or servicer can no longer continue in its role. Standby servicers are appointed in advance so they can step in if needed.

Foan joins after almost 30 years at Principality Building Society, where she spent much of her career leading operational incident management. Chambers returns to Lenvi after a previous 10-year spell with the business and also spent eight years at HML, bringing experience in loan management software.

Recent client appointments include Funding Circle, Billing Finance and Abound. These mandates have strengthened Lenvi's position in the UK and Europe for standby servicing by scale of assets and funding lines covered.

Growing demand

Lenvi has also been deployed on a number of invocations this year, including insolvency, non-insolvency and more complex cases. These assignments are significant because standby servicing is often judged not just on systems and staffing, but on whether a provider has handled live transfers under pressure and within contractual timeframes.

Alongside the team expansion, Lenvi recently introduced a forensic invocation testing service. It is designed to let clients rehearse an invocation scenario using the same processes that would be used in a live event.

The testing process is intended to give investors and lenders greater visibility into operational readiness. In structured finance and other loan funding arrangements, such preparation can be a key part of risk management, particularly where portfolios are spread across different loan types and servicing requirements.

Owain Chambers, Director of Capital Markets at Lenvi, commented on the recruitment and the wider market backdrop.

"We're continuing to invest in the people, expertise and capability needed to support growing demand for standby servicing. Catherine and Stacey bring significant operational experience that will further strengthen our offering and help shape the next phase of growth," said Chambers.

He also pointed to experience in live invocation scenarios as a point of differentiation in the market.

"As the market continues to evolve, lenders and investors increasingly recognise the importance of appointing a standby servicer with proven operational experience. Unlike providers whose capability is largely theoretical, we've supported clients through real invocations across a range of scenarios, giving them confidence that, if we are ever needed, the processes, people and expertise are already in place," said Chambers.