‘Always look to fix the situation, rather than add to the issue at hand’

By Tony Sanchez 27th March 2025

In our latest Five Minute Interview, Tony Sanchez speaks to Cameron Keller, Case Manager at Fiduciam.

What is the best thing about being in the bridging and development finance business?

For me, it’s being able to look at all different types of assets and being able to manage large amounts of capital.

One minute I’m reviewing £50 million offices in London; next, it’s hotels in Edinburgh, or golf courses in Surrey.

Having the responsibility to play a key role in the deployment of multi-million-pound loans at this stage in my career is something I enjoy every day, and it’s an opportunity I believe is unique to Fiduciam.

What keeps you focused?

Taking my 1-hour 15-minute gym session (during my 1-hour lunch break), followed by a *free* coffee from my Leon subscription or my stash of Red Bull in my desk drawer.

What qualities do you look for in your employees or colleagues?

I look for people who are able to add value and adapt to different social situations, individuals who can talk about anything and everything distraction-free, without being glued to their phone like so many these days.

When I have my own employees one day, I’ll look for individuals with strong work ethics and these social traits, as I would want to invest in personalities, not just flashy experience on a CV.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

Even though the success rate for enquiries to completions is close to 5%, I would call myself an optimist.

I had a rugby coach at university who instilled a ‘Solutions Not Problems’ mentality to us; to always look to fix the situation, rather than add to the issue at hand.

What did you want to be as a child?

Professional sport was always on my mind, and if that didn’t work I seriously considered being an Army Officer at Sandhurst.

Who knows, maybe that’s still an option for the future, but right now my focus is to grow Fiduciam’s loan book to £500m total on solid Real Estate Transactions.

What will be the greatest challenge facing the bridging and development finance industry in the coming months?

Being competitive in the market. We are seeing a lot more lenders and high street banks entering the space and being very aggressive on rates.

Being able to strike a balance between getting a decent ROI for our community of investors, while also being as competitive as possible for our borrowers.

With 70% of our borrowers being repeat borrowers, it is safe to say that we are doing something right…

Who or what makes you laugh?

From Monday to Friday, my Head of Credit keeps us all very entertained.

Otherwise, I’m a big fan of YouTube or TV Series. Classics like The Inbetweeners or The UK Office are my favourite with my current recommendation being SAS Rogue Heros on BBC, not that funny though!

Do you dread Monday mornings?

Depends on how well I have recovered from my Saturday rugby game, and therefore Saturday night!

During the winter months I don’t mind getting up and coming into the warm office, I’m expecting this to be much less enjoyable when the sun starts to come out.

To be honest, I like being in a routine and I don’t enjoy having things hanging over me. So, getting back to my pending transactions gives me a strong sense of accomplishment.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I asked my fellow UK team members on my desk for their opinion on this, and they said that we couldn’t possibly cover this question in a ‘5-minute interview’, so maybe we’ll have to come back to this one another time…

With whom would you most like to have dinner?

I’m a big eater and would also love to hear fascinating stories from some incredible individuals. On that basis, I would love to invite Ronaldo, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, and Jose Miguel from IT.