Pallas Capital appoints Darren Rix as head of credit risk
Specialist bridging and development finance lender Pallas Capital today announced the appointment of Darren Rix as head of credit risk. Darren joins the UK management team with immediate effect, bringing 37 years’ banking experience to the role.
The appointment follows sustained growth in Pallas Capital’s UK team and lending pipeline, which has created the need for a dedicated senior credit risk function. Darren will oversee the firm’s applications process, credit papers and lending decisions, ensuring the quality and discipline that underpins Pallas Capital’s approach to real estate finance.
Darren spent 28 years in retail banking focused on corporate real estate and credit risk, holding senior roles at Barclays, Bank of Scotland and Santander. He went on to lead a special project covering mixed real estate assets for a private equity firm, before serving as head of credit at two start-up non-bank lenders, both focused on development finance. Most recently, he was head of real estate credit risk at Hampshire Trust Bank.
Commenting on his appointment, Darren 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.”
On the current market, Darren added: “It has been a difficult period since Covid, and the market is still recovering. 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. The planning process remains a significant obstacle, even as we see a real build-up of development activity coming through. 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.”