The Intermediary – October 2025 - Flipbook - Page 30
The Interview.
Mercantile Trust
focuses on her role at Central Trust. She sat
down with The Intermediary to talk about the
plans, challenges and opportunities ahead.
Progress and plans
Jessica Bird speaks with Tara Evans,
chief executive at Mercantile Trust, on
staying front of mind for complex cases
T
ara Evans started her career
with Norfolk Capital Group
– the parent company of
Mercantile Trust – in 2002.
Originally working on the
brokerage side, she moved through various
roles within the group, including as operations
manager at The Loans Engine, before taking on a
new opportunity in 2017 as head of direct sales
for Central Trust, making her first move onto
the lender side of the equation.
Evans says this start has given her the
perspective needed to understand the “broker
mind” when it comes to making decisions and
coming up with new ideas. Last February, she
made the move to Mercantile Trust, joining CEO
Debbie Burton as the lender advanced into a
period of renewed focus and growth. This meant
moving from the regulated to unregulated side
of the business, as well as coming to understand
more about “all elements of lending from start
to finish.”
From this month, Evans is set to tackle the
next challenge as chief executive as Burton
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The Intermediary | October 2025
Since joining Mercantile Trust, Evans has seen
the team grow from six to 15. In addition,
average monthly completion volumes are up
32% compared with last year, and Evans is
“confident [the firm will] go from strength
to strength.”
One of her key priorities as she moves into
the role is to reposition Mercantile Trust firmly
in the minds of intermediaries.
The lender has been around since 2016,
originally on the buy-to-let (BTL) term side,
then moving into bridging, and more recently,
areas such as homeowner business loans.
Mercantile Trust’s proposition is predominantly
focused on second charge lending up to
75% loan-to-value (LTV) for residential
BTL properties.
Beyond the offering itself, Evans says the
lender’s value lies in its size, which – despite
going through a growth phase – is not going
to change.
She explains: “We’re quite a small lender.
While I’d love to say I’ll rule the world one day,
we’ll always stay quite a small to medium-sized
[SME] lender. We’re a niche lender for specialist
situations with higher risk.
“We’re able to step in and help where
somebody else can’t. With our products,
we can service some customers that others
currently can’t.”
Due to the niche, often difficult nature of the
cases in question, Mercantile Trust’s size is part
of its proposition.
Evans says: “Because of our size, you can have
access to anybody, really. You can call up and
speak to me, to our underwriting manager.
“We have really quick [service level
agreements (SLAs)] so if somebody submits a
case by three o’clock, for example, they’ll have
an update the same day.
“We want to act on speed, and at the same
time we still have a lot of human touch in
our processes.”
Moving forward, brand awareness is key.
Evans says that, speaking with Mercantile
Trust’s existing broker cohort, this should centre
around speed, human service, and the ability to
