REVIEW
SPECIALIST XXXXXXXXXFINANCE
No certainties in the short-term Terry Pritchard director, Charter HCP
W
hen so much has been written over the past few months about COVID-19, the market, the economy and everything else by our group of industry spokesmen (self-appointed) who have a view on everything, it is hard to write about things from a new angle. But the fact is that we have no real idea of anything coming out of lockdown, other than the following There will almost certainly be a spike in new cases and possibly deaths as the numbers suggest we are four weeks too early coming out of lockdown. Hospitals will need to get ready for an increase of births (maybe convert the Nightingale to a maternity hospital). The divorce process needs to brace itself for a massive increase in cases. A return of engagement rings to jewellers so dump your stock now. There are obviously other things I have not touched on but these cover the immediate ISSUES
On a note closer to home, and as an indulgence on my part, I thought it a good idea (I would) to explain more
Change of use: Nightingale Maternity Hospital
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BRIDGING INTRODUCER JUNE 2020
about the area of business we (Charter HCP) work in so that you can better understand some of the opportunities that may pass by you on a regular basis, and that maybe in the coming months you could look to develop further. Basically Charter are a business that operates in the corporate finance and due diligence arena, meaning we look at all types of specialist funding from the provision of credit lines to individual loans to clients for development finance, asset finance and trade finance, at which point we provide to the ultimate funders the completed oven ready due diligence pack allowing them to make a decision on if they are to transact. As an example we recently received an enquiry from an overseas insurance company to provide them with replacement regulatory capital along with business expansion funding. Other examples include offering on a government backed development project in Africa and we have had a number of large bridging projects both in the UK and abroad (£15m plus). Now the reason I am telling you this is that virtually every broker, packager and financial adviser comes across something they have no expertise in on a regular basis. Given the environment we are currently in it is time to take off the blinkers and look at what you could achieve by striking up a relationship with other businesses who offer those skills with a healthy introductory fee on completion. Increased revenue streams is something we all need to explore as the
damage to business in general means things will take an awful long time to get back to anywhere near normal. Now is time for you to pick the phone up and see what can be easily added to your arsenal (sorry to Spurs fans for using the A word). I often hear stories, especially from mortgage advisers, who rightly stay focussed on their core business, but this is also more often than not at the exclusion of any other business line. Now that works when you can transact mortgage loans easily but what happens when the market changes. I have even sat with those that refuse to add second charge loans to their portfolio, something in my mind that detracts from the ability to offer best advice to a client. Another area often missed or certainly not offered as a solution are equity release loans, surely that’s another product line so closely linked you should at least be able to introduce to an outfit that will look after your client and pay you on the way. You will note that I started to climb onto the soapbox and I am sure many of you are already doing the things I have suggested, however, for those of you that don’t then explore further and look at increasing your business proposition for your clients. Make yourself their first call for advice on ALL things financial and have a contact list built of suppliers that covers the full spectrum from car finance, equity release, commercial finance, corporate finance through to bridging loans over £100m and even the provision of funding lines , I really do believe that to survive any crisis you need to have a big black book of contacts and be prepared to be flexible on what you are doing. There are plenty of good packagers etc out there who can help you with all of this and we are not the only people doing our job (Arc and Co being a good alternative). Have a good exit from lockdown but most of all please be safe and keep your families safe as well. B I www.mortgageintroducer.com