Know Your BDM: Emmanuel Jatto, Kseye

Which locations and how many advisers and broker firms do you cover in your role at Kseye?

I work with brokers in North London, the West End and some parts of Essex. I work with quite a few brokerages, but also individual one-man-band advisers.

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

Being a problem solver. It’s often a balancing act to keep everyone happy on a case, particularly when it comes to our appetite for credit risk and the expectations of the broker and their client. You need to be a good negotiator.

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

I’d say patience. When a deal comes in, we’re good at getting terms out quickly, but there can often be delays when we wait for clients to share documents or wait for valuations to take place. But life as a BDM is all about getting the best result for the broker and client – we just want to get deals done quickly to focus on the next one!

What’s the hardest part of your job?

This comes back to it being a balancing act. As a BDM, I obviously always want to take a commercial view and look to find a solution for the borrower. At the same time, it’s important that we take a sensible approach to risk. A quick no is always better than one that is drawn out, and so it’s important to quickly recognise when a case is unlikely to be able to proceed.

What do you love most about your job?

It isn’t just every day that is different, but every deal. This keeps it varied and you are always learning something new.

What’s the best bit of career-related advice you’ve ever been given? Who gave it to you?

When I first started working in bridging, I turned up to work in a suit and tie and my old manager said to me, “we don’t wear ties in bridging”. It might not sound that profound, but it was something that made me realise that what we do is built on relationships and working in partnership with brokers and their clients, rather than giving them the big sell.

How do you keep up to date with developments in the market?

I keep track of activity on LinkedIn, stay up to date with swap rates and follow what other lenders are doing through the trade press. It’s important to be up to speed on what’s going on in the term market, as well as with bridging, as that is often the exit route for our customers.

What is the most quirky/unique property deal you’ve been involved in?

I’d say the quirkiest case I’ve had to deal with is one where the borrower was a foreign national purchasing a Victorian house in London and converting the property into three flats. The client had a business partner in the UK who helped him negotiate with the vendor, exchange on the property, and then apply for planning. We ended up lending on 90 per cent of the purchase price, but needed UK-qualified solicitors to verify his documents. It became a bit more unique when the client had to travel from Canada to America at the last minute, which meant we had to find new solicitors again to meet the borrower for verification of his documents.

Tell us about your trickiest case – what happened and how did you resolve the problem(s)?

At Kseye, we took over a part development deal where the client couldn’t finish the project with their development lender. However, a valuation on the scheme was significantly lower than anticipated, and so we needed to increase the loan to value (LTV) of our loan by taking comfort charges, as well as working with the broker and the client to bring a mezzanine lender into the deal.

What was your motivation for choosing this career?

I used to work in regulated mortgages at Metro Bank. I spoke to colleagues, saying that I was thinking about moving into bridging, and they all said how difficult bridging can be. Given my personality, this motivated me to give bridging a try. Yes, it was quite difficult for the first few weeks, but the challenge involved in this sector makes it really fun.

If you could do any other job in the property sector, what would it be and why?

I’d probably be a broker. I feel like most BDMs wonder whether the grass is greener on the other side. It’s basically the same job, but from a different angle.

What did you want to be growing up?

I’d probably be a drummer. My brother is a successful drummer now and I used to play in a band.

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

The obvious answer would be to have unlimited superpowers, but if I had to choose one, it would be to be able to fly.

What is your strategy for tackling challenges?

Assess the situation, understand the root problem and then take time to plan and think about how to solve that problem. Every time I encounter an issue on a case, I always try to think not about the problem, but how to solve it.

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

There’s almost no such thing as a strange question in bridging as there are so many options for different types of circumstances. It just depends on a lender’s appetite. I guess the strangest question I have been asked is whether we would advance a loan secured on a ship.