Rising Star: Barney Iles, Hampshire Trust Bank

What does your role entail and how long have you been doing it?   

I am a lending director at Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB), specialising in originating development finance loans, primarily in the residential sector. I have been working in real estate for a decade. 

What attracted you to working in the mortgage/property/finance sector?   

I love the transformative power of property development: whether it’s giving an abandoned factory a new lease of life through conversion into flats, or the construction of small villages on brownfield sites. As a country, we are significantly behind our housebuilding targets, and I enjoy playing a role in helping Britain to close that gap.  

What were you doing in the five years before starting here?    

Working in development finance, focusing on both debt and equity opportunities.  

What personal talent/skill is most valuable in doing your job?   

Relationship building. It is all about developing a rapport with others and ensuring they trust you to deliver, whether that’s the funding on the terms I agreed with the developer or presenting thoroughly analysed opportunities to credit and doing this with the risks appropriately managed. My role involves building relationships with a range of stakeholders: developers of all levels of experience, brokers, valuers, project monitors and lawyers and of course many internal teams within HTB too.  

What personal talent/skill would you most like to improve on?  

I’d like to gain a stronger voice within the industry, for example via LinkedIn, podcasts or panels. 

How has the pandemic changed the way you approach your job?  

Hybrid working has had a huge impact – it is easier than ever to have a quick conference call with people based all over the UK. This can increase efficiency and speed of work, but sometimes at the expense of meeting people face to face, which can forge stronger relationships. We always make the effort to meet our clients face to face. We are also mindful that hybrid working can make learning on the job more challenging for more junior team members, so have set office days.  

What is the most interesting/memorable property deal/case you’ve been involved in?   

Providing a bridge facility to one of the best developers in the UK, allowing them to acquire a large disused factory in a regeneration area in west London. They successfully achieved planning for thousands of residential and commercial units and the site is now currently being developed. Not only will the site provide much needed housing, but also benefit the wider area with community spaces. 

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?    

Certainly, within the next five years, I would like to be managing a team of originators. I am very ambitious so would like to see how high up the ladder I can climb. I would like to have done some property refurbishments on the side, while continuing to work in development finance.  

If present-day you could go back in time and tell yourself something five years ago, what would it be?  

Don’t be afraid to ask the stupid questions. 

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve tackled so far in your career?   

I started my career as an accountant – It was a solid and safe career, but I knew it was not for me, so I took a risk and changed career paths. Now I am doing what I love. I think it can be easy to coast, and hard to challenge yourself to pursue an unknown opportunity.  

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?   

Teleportation – I love to travel. Also, imagine never having to use the Northern Line at rush hour again. 

And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?   

Excuse me, are you Kevin De Bruyne?