The Five Minute Interview with David Winter, Commercial and Bridging Specialist, Clever Lending

By Tony Sanchez 17th January 2017

Clever Lending is a master broker providing specialist lending solutions to suit a range of needs.

From second charge to commercial and bridging loans, their extensive experience and market knowledge means they understand the challenges you and your clients may face in sourcing suitable finance.

Clever can help you quickly meet client needs, identify more income opportunities and provide a compliant and trusted service.

We speak to Commercial and Bridging Specialist, David Winter:

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

I would say that every single day is unique and rarely do the lending situations I am aiming to satisfy ever become the same.

It is the bespoke nature of this business that keeps me in a learning mode, because with the changes that have come to the commercial and bridging marketplace over the last few years, we continue to develop some innovative ways of ensuring our clients get the best possible solution to their funding needs.

What keeps you focused?

The fact that every case is different and needs to be assessed on its own merits. You can’t take anything for granted and I enjoy working with brokers and their clients to get to the heart of a case.

This objective approach makes sourcing a lender easier as it narrows down the options based on my experience of the market.

Having the support of the team at Clever Lending also means we can help more clients more often.

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

I am always looking for someone with the ‘Team ethic’ as we all have here at Clever, because you know full well they will treat your introducers and clients as they would treat their own and really go that extra mile to deliver a service that exceeds expectations.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

The eternal optimist. Getting bent out of shape over something that might happen just drags you down and makes everything else a chore rather than a delight.

I have aspired to the two rules, firstly that I ‘shouldn’t sweat the small stuff’, and the second rule ‘Everything is small stuff’.

What did you want to be as a child?

I wanted to join the merchant navy for the promise of world travel, I didn’t like the idea of getting shot at in the regular navy, but failed because my eyesight just wasn’t up to it to captain a ship, and I would have ended up in the bowels of a ship as an engineer, the natural next move of course was to become a banker!

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

What the industry needs for the time being is a period of stability without everyone having to adapt and accommodate new rules from government and the regulators like the recent tax and stamp duty changes, all of which are expected to have an impact on the market, but it is not clear how much it will affect landlords, but most of the proactive ones are already planning for most eventualities.

I can also see more areas of commercial and bridging lending being looked at a lot more closely by the regulator.

Who or what makes you laugh?

Listening to my children come up with some wonderful new words for everyday situations that aren’t in the dictionary but they seem to make sense, and as far as comedy is concerned I love watching the likes of Michael McIntyre or Paul Whitehouse.

Do you dread Monday mornings?

Never, at my age, each is a diamond and not to be missed.

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

Get better at playing badminton, a game I love and keeps me fit.

With whom would you most like to have dinner?

I would dearly love to meet up with those friends I was at school with, not so much for the food, but more to find out what they have done with their lives.