Andy Marlor

Group Head of Marketing, STAR Asset Finance

23 years' experience in marketing and communications

Andy is an experienced marketing and communications professional specialising in brand development, digital marketing and strategic campaigns. He leads marketing across the STAR Asset Finance Group, helping its businesses build awareness, generate opportunities and support growth.

Our Group CEO joins the Finance Connect Asset Insights Podcast to discuss where growth will come from, the role of brokers, and what’s next for STAR Asset Finance Group.

STAR Asset Finance Group CEO Jason Hurwitz is the latest guest on the Finance Connect Asset Insights Podcast. He sat down with Finance Connect CEO Edward Peck to talk about the opportunities and challenges facing specialist finance, and how the industry can do more for the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses.

Jason became Group CEO in July 2026. He has worked in asset finance as an SME owner, as a lender and as a technology provider. That background shapes his view that finance partners need to start with what a business is trying to achieve, not with the product they want to sell.

What the conversation covers

  • Finding growth in a flat market. Where the next opportunities lie for lenders and brokers when overall market expansion is limited.
  • The role of brokers. Why brokers stay central to SME access to funding, and how hybrid broker-lender models like STAR’s can add value.
  • Customer needs first. Why understanding the customer should come before choosing a product.
  • The rise of business loans. What growing demand for unsecured lending means for traditional asset finance.
  • Technology and AI. How new tools can improve speed and efficiency without losing the personal relationships SMEs value.

A theme running through the discussion is whether the industry’s focus on speed and transactional lending risks missing chances to deliver more for customers. Jason argues that technology and people should work together, not compete. In his words: “It’s not human or digital. It’s human and digital.”

Building on regional strengths

Jason also sets out his vision for STAR Asset Finance Group. The group brings together four established businesses: Kennet Leasing, Ignition Credit, Credo Finance and First Capital Finance. Each has its own specialist expertise and long-standing customer relationships. The plan is to keep those strengths and add the reach, technology and collaboration of a national finance group, using STAR’s hybrid lending model to drive its next phase of growth.

Listen to the full episode

The episode is available now on the Finance Connect Asset Insights Podcast page, as well as on Spotify, YouTube and Amazon Music.

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