Carl Graham | Tuscan Capital

BLD Diamonds are awarded for qualitative rather than quantitative reasons, but it’s hard to ignore the unusual number of nominations for Carl Graham – including, it must be said, his own. Only a run down of the reasons his peers gave for Carl deserving recognition will do him justice; he’s about finding solutions; a great sounding board for queries; not afraid to give his professional opinion; work ethic is second to none; knowledge and enthusiasm is brilliant but also a really positive and can do approach; really goes above and beyond; has great credit skills and a really strong customer focus; always attentive, calls you back, has an appetite to do deals (a basic quality but sadly not many in the industry actually do the basics); when he can’t do a deal he is adept at passing me the info for someone that can, which is very rare; a likeable chap who puts the hours in and deserves the recognition; best bridger in the business.

It is rare outside Oscars night to hear such a long list of praise from such a variety of different sources – we should all be so lucky to be so well regarded by our business partners. And yet, drilling down into the examples that underpin these breathless accolades it becomes clear, luck has had very little to do with it. As the saying goes, the harder you work, the luckier you get. During the pandemic Carl took this to extremes. Catching coronavirus still wasn’t enough to stop him: “There have been many occasions where we have discussed live cases late into the evening, but even from his Covid bed he was sending messages and e-mails,” says Mike Coates of broker Commercial Expert, “he is an absolute pleasure to work with and always finds time to have a laugh too, if we had team members like Carl in all businesses we would all be very happy and successful.”

In a world where, from travel to tree surgery, customer service departments increasingly show an unrelenting inability to say ‘sorry, that was our fault, we’ll fix it’, a recurring theme from those who recommended Carl is his refusal to pass the buck. “As a broker, the best we can ever expect from a lender or from a member of the lenders team is ownership; of our relationship, the relationship with our client, but overall ownership of the deal or proposal,” says Paul Goodman, MD at Goodman Corporate Finance, “Carl delivers this in absolute bucket loads”. This creates a virtuous business circle, imbuing every part of the deal with a confidence that allows brokers to move onto the next loan, content they can now play a supporting role to Carl’s safe pair of hands, while the client is assured that, baring hell or high water, the bridging loan will draw.

In this way, Carl makes the customer journey paramount in his day to day dealings. From the strength and time span of the testimonies he has received, dating across his over 17 years’ experience in the specialist mortgage and property finance sectors, what sets him apart as a Diamond is in large part his ability to maintain this enthusiasm for quality. Which continues to this day – one of Carl’s most complimentary recommendations is from his time at Tuscan Capital, which he only joined in January 2021. “His appointment at Tuscan has raised our energy levels and forced us to look at new ideas which has been a breath of fresh air – it feels like he has been with the Tuscan team for years already….in a good way!” Consistent, committed, collegiate – Carl has all the Diamond qualities.