Which locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role at Afin Bank?
My role is national as Afin Bank provides mortgages across England and Wales. We have relationships with four large mortgage clubs and have onboarded almost 100 broker firms.
For a bank that only launched in July, the reception across the broker community has been overwhelmingly positive, and that is testament to the Afin Bank offering of mortgages to under-served borrowers.
What personal skill is most valuable in doing your job?
The art of listening; the saying goes that “we have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” A good business development manager (BDM) listens to truly understand what brokers and clients need. It is important to talk and be articulate to enable you to offer your product or proposition, which is a base skill. A listening BDM is a perceptive BDM, and one that can offer solutions to brokers and clients.
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What’s the hardest part of your job?
The nature of specialist mortgages is that every case is different and a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach cannot apply. This presents the biggest challenge from a lending perspective but also gives the most fulfilment when you’re able to offer solutions to these non-vanilla cases.
What do you love most about your job?
I have over 15 years’ banking and wealth management experience in the UK and in Africa. My role at Afin allows me to utilise this experience to support our broker and client networks, helping borrowers who can struggle to get a mortgage from a mainstream lender.
For example, our Afin Professional range is designed to help qualified professionals get a mortgage of up 6.5 times their income. For foreign national professionals living and working in the UK on a visa, such as doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers and IT professionals – people who add so much societal value to this country – this means we can help them achieve their vision of property ownership in a place they now call home.
Our Afin Premier high-net-worth (HNW) mortgage range supports asset-rich, income-light clients by looking at their overall asset base and providing bespoke affordability options across their total wealth profile.
Are there any (popular) misconceptions about your job/role?
That we’re always out travelling and socialising, which evokes a glamorous existence. It’s true I am on the road a lot and it also is true that I do meet and talk to a lot of people. However, the reality of 5am travel alarms, service station Zoom or Teams meetings and knowing all the A and B road junctions by heart is far from glamorous.
What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given? Who gave it to you?
I have been fortunate to work alongside some great bankers and bosses over the years. One trait that has been consistent across them all is that they “get stuff done.” It is easy to critique and describe reasons why things aren’t working as they should. The ones that are truly great are those that seek solutions, lead with action, and get stuff done.
What has been the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your career?
That you have to be the change that you seek. This means leading by example, taking personal responsibility for creating better systems and initiating changes by oneself rather than waiting for others to act. Those game-changing products, policies or criteria, initially required someone to step up and advocate for them before they became mainstream. We can all be that someone.
How do you keep up to date with developments in the market?
Feedback from brokers and clients is invaluable. This feedback has enabled us to sharpen our criteria and product offerings. An example is extending our Afin Professional offering to nurses, lecturers and teachers. This allows them to access our enhanced 6.5 times loan-to-income (LTI) mortgage options, and we will also be launching our 95% loan-to-value (LTV) offering for first-time buyers with low deposits.
All these enhancements have been off the back of broker and client engagement, which remains essential to our growth as a bank.
What is the most quirky/unique property deal you’ve been involved in?
I worked in private banking for many years specialising in HNW mortgages and I have supported various unique properties. This includes a country home with a private lake and a manor house with an indoor shooting range, through to a townhouse with a retractable basement swimming pool.
My favourite deal remains funding a family home that included an equestrian centre on the grounds, complete with paddocks and horses.
Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)?
Within the HNW mortgage space, every case is unique and presents its own challenges.
A particularly tricky scenario was an international executive who had recently relocated to the UK to lead a European business. The client had a senior role and significant global assets, but limited income and UK credit history, with her remuneration also including stock options and restricted stock units (RSUs). This required bespoke underwriting with a global lens and early engagement between our underwriters, the broker and the client’s financial advisers, which ensured that a solution was found for the client without having to liquidate her stock options.
What was your motivation for choosing this career?
I believe banks, and by extension bankers, have great power. With that power comes responsibility and it is our collective responsibility as an industry to actively champion positive societal change.
Working within a bank like Afin allows me to do that by providing innovative banking solutions to under-served segments of society, such as foreign nationals on work visas, self-employed individuals with complex incomes, or HNW borrowers requiring bespoke affordability.
If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?
An architect. I’ve always been fascinated by the creativity involved in designing, planning, and overseeing construction and restoration projects.
While I would likely never design, plan or oversee a building project, I take comfort in the fact that I have funded a considerable number, and that counts.
What did you want to be growing up?
I wanted to be an Air Force fighter pilot. I attended military school at both primary and secondary level, and I was on the path to becoming a military officer.
I had a gap year where I had corporate work experience and the world of banking and finance called to me. Nowadays, a suit is my armour and I deploy mortgages instead of parachutes.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I see Afin Bank growing to become the specialist lender of choice for under-served borrowers, with me continuing to champion that charge.
I also see Afin providing more products and services for HNW borrowers, foreign nationals and the self-employed and people with complex incomes. We are on the starting blocks on our roadmap of financial empowerment, and our upcoming product pipeline keeps me excited.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
The power of flight. I have spent many a time sat on planes, trains and automobiles, with the attendant delays, cancellations and breakdowns. Superman never has to deal with those.
What do you do to unwind?
Outside of work, you will find me getting my hands dirty in the garden, getting my feet dirtier running a Tough Mudder obstacle course, or cleaning up after my two rambunctious little daughters. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What is your greatest skill, either work- or non-work-related?
I consider myself a disciplined person, partly due to my early military school background, and my obstacle course racing hobby. Both pursuits require consistency, control and purpose – traits that have served me well in life and work.
And finally, what’s the strangest question you’ve ever been asked?
“If you had to eat a crayon out of a box, what colour would you pick and why?”
