Paresh Raja

Chief Executive Officer at MFS

Paresh Raja founded Market Financial Solutions (MFS) in 2006.

MFS is a specialist finance company offering bridging loans and buy-to-let mortgages to property investors. As the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Paresh is responsible for driving MFS forward, creating its long-term goals and ensuring those targets are met, as well as making sure that the company is at the forefront of the industry.

Paresh has oversight of all departments within MFS, ensuring every element of the business is performing to its utmost potential. This includes making sure the company delivers industry leading service standards for all stakeholders, that growth within the firm is attained through effective planning, and relationships with external investors are nurtured to achieve scale.

Paresh generates diversified funding for MFS through a variety of institutions and banks. All of this is done to provide an efficient lending service to brokers and their clients. These efforts are supported by Paresh’s vast experience in commercial lending, bridging, and structured finance.

Paresh Raja has a track record of successfully managing a loan book of more than £1.4bn, and has never stopped lending, including through the financial crisis years. He has also set up an independent investment group, where he managed a cumulative loan book of over £600m. He was also a former senior consultant at a top-five consultancy firm for several years.

Paresh’s Priorities

In leading MFS, Paresh Raja is committed to supporting property investors who encounter difficulties with – or are simply not suitable for – the high street banks. Through times of economic prosperity and recession alike, Paresh has remained committed to providing fast, flexible specialist financial options for a wide array of borrowers.

Paresh has created a culture within the team that prioritises supporting borrowers and embracing a positive, proactive attitude to getting deals done. Rather than finding excuses not to lend, MFS looks for reasons to issue funding. Where mainstream lenders tighten criteria, and solely focus on a borrower’s income, Paresh insists on looking at a much wider picture; in providing a bespoke service, MFS incorporates a borrower’s background, the strength of the investment and exit strategy at hand, and ongoing market changes when assessing a claim.

Furthermore, Paresh is dedicated to bringing out the best in the team, inspiring his staff to progress within the company. Wherever possible, MFS promotes from within, with new senior roles often awarded to promoted junior staff. He also enjoys rewarding his teams for their hard work; regularly planning staff trips away, sending them off to Wimbledon, organising social events and more.

What He Has Achieved So Far

Since launching MFS in 2006, Paresh Raja has built a reputation for providing reliable lending services to property investors. His track record in consistently offering quality products has resulted in MFS securing numerous industry awards over recent years.

Family Life

Paresh Raja is blessed to have four children, three of whom are excelling in the working world, with one progressing through university.

Each of Paresh’s children are excelling in the financial, accounting, and scientific fields, and he is immensely proud of all of them. No matter how busy Paresh gets, he always has a lot of time for his family.

Personal Interests

Paresh is an avid sports fan, and regularly carves out time in his busy schedule to attend important sporting events. Traveling worldwide to watch football, cricket, Formula 1, and tennis, among other events

Paresh Raja is also passionate about investing outside the world of property. In building his own personal conglomerate, he is always on the lookout for new investment opportunities. His reach spreads across industries and geographies. Paresh’s entrepreneurial zeal knows no bounds.

Just as is the case with MFS’ priorities, Paresh Raja is keen to support the wider population with promising developments, products, or inventions that cross his path.

Giving Back To The Community

On top of running the business, Paresh Raja pushes for MFS to support and contribute to many charitable causes.

In 2022, amongst other initiatives, he sponsored the Children with Cancer Charity ball, which raised over £700,000 on the night to support the 4,500-plus children diagnosed with cancer in the UK each year.

Supporting children in need is a central tenant of Paresh’s charitable endeavours. Paresh is heavily involved with the charity Go Beyond, which is dedicated to helping children living in difficult circumstances, along with Rays of Sunshine, an organisation focused on brightening the lives of children who are living with serious or life-limiting illnesses.

Paresh also pledged to support ‘Atlantic Endeavour’ – a team of 4 rowing the Atlantic in aid of two charities, Mind, and The Oli Hilsdon Foundation. After a gruelling 33 days at sea, this team raised over £70,000. Most recently, Paresh has made donations to help those affected by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

Charity work is something Paresh Raja takes incredibly seriously, with multiple initiatives running throughout the year. Whilst some are discussed in MFS newsletters and literature to help raise awareness of the organisations and causes at hand – most is undertaken quietly, with the pure focus of giving back to society.