You are here: Home - Better Business - Profiles -

Know Your BDM: Lee Casey, Redwood Bank

by:
  • 14/08/2018
  • 0
Know Your BDM: Lee Casey, Redwood Bank
This week, Specialist Lending Solutions is talking to Lee Casey, business development manager for Redwood Bank.

 

How many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role?

I cover the South & East – a pretty big area that includes East Anglia and goes all the way down to the South coast, with a regional concentration in the home counties. I focus on enhancing and growing relationships with selected brokers who are a good fit for Redwood Bank.

 

How do you successfully organise and deal with business on a daily basis?

Each morning I start the office day with my amazing colleague Nicola Blake and together we plan the day and look forward to the weeks ahead.

 

What issues come up time and time again?

We are a new start-up challenger bank and brokers who have already worked with us are now starting to come back with repeat business, which is brilliant news and we’re constantly increasing our teams to deal with this. It’s all part of being a new bank and is certainly a nice problem to have.

 

What do you wish brokers understood about your job?

The brokers we choose to work with are experienced and completely get us. We’re growing our panel with brokers who understand what Redwood Bank is and what we can offer. If I had one work-related wish, I would wish that more brokers had heard of us.

 

What do you think is the most important attribute of a good BDM?

I’m focused on building long term relationships, so I really believe an approachable personality, a can-do attitude and being open and honest are vital qualities. And I firmly believe these have got me where I am today.

 

When you’re unavailable to be contacted by telephone, what’s the second-best way for brokers to get in touch?

The mobile is always on. I’m on 07741 140338, and the team’s direct line is 01462 419726. Alternatively, my email is lee.casey@redwoodbank.co.uk

 

If you were head of the FCA for the day, what would you change about regulation in the mortgage industry?

There should be a rule put in place that every lender should strive to match our speed of turnaround. Seriously, there is no excuse for lenders to drag their feet, especially when it’s clients who lose out as a result.

 

What was your motivation for choosing business development as a career?

I’m a people person. I love helping people and seeing their businesses expand, diversify or strengthen as a result of new lending or refinance. My personality and skills are aligned to this kind of work.

 

How do you establish and maintain a good relationship with brokers?

Regular contact is key, and making fast, clear, common sense decisions – whether good or bad – are really appreciated by my brokers. I’ll let them know whether we can do a deal or not straight away, so I’m not wasting the time of the client or broker.

 

And how do you establish and maintain good relationships internally?

Working at Redwood Bank is like a large family. I treat everyone as I’d like to be treated and so does everyone else, which creates a respectful environment. Everyone here pulls in the same direction. We all understand the impact we have on each other’s roles and do all we can to help each other. As a result, we get some great customer feedback and that’s all to do with how we work as one team.

 

What’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?

I won’t repeat them here, but my eleven-year-old son has asked me some very well-selected questions at some opportune times – clearly designed to cause maximum embarrassment. I’m sure any parent can relate.

 

And finally, what did you want to be growing up?

I always thought I was going to be a professional footballer – right up to the point when a professional club let me go. I fell into the world of finance with a bit of motivation from my dad who made it very clear I couldn’t sit around all day doing nothing. I sent my CV to Midland Bank, and that was 25 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

There are 0 Comment(s)

Comments are closed.

You may also be interested in