Mr Drummond will lead Pluto Finance’s entry into the Scottish housebuilding and developer market by providing access to the firm’s flexible and innovative lending solutions.

Mr Drummond joins Pluto Finance after 30 years in corporate banking at NatWest where he had extensive experience of structuring and managing real estate transactions across senior debt, mezzanine and equity finance. More recently Mr Drummond played a key role in building a market-leading senior real estate lending book in Scotland and led high-profile transactions across all sub-asset classes. He will focus on building Pluto’s relationships with developers across Scotland and providing them with flexible and cost- effective funding to support their new housing development projects.

The opportunity to deploy capital for housebuilding in Scotland is considerable. Latest Scottish Government figures to September 2024 show that the number of new homes built across all categories (private and social housing) fell 10% year on year, while homes started were 12% lower, which falls far below the Scottish government’s ambitious housing targets. Private sector completions were the lowest since 2018, while the number of homes where building had started was at its lowest level for 20 years.

Justin Faiz, CEO of Pluto Finance, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jamie to the Pluto Finance lending team. His considerable knowledge of the Scottish housebuilding and developer market will be key to Pluto quickly establishing a presence here.

“He will enable us to quickly deploy capital from our main fund and from Scottish investors that will be partially ring-fenced for deployment in Scotland, enabling us to help finance the much-needed building of affordable homes here.”

Mr Drummond said: “Pluto’s innovative proposition to the market and outstanding professionalism is a stand-out for me and I am really excited to be joining at a time when there is such a need from housebuilders for finance to build new homes.

“Pluto’s approach will ensure local capital is used for local housebuilding thereby benefitting local supply chains and creating jobs in Scotland. I am looking forward to working with Pluto to establish the franchise in Scotland.”