From next week B&C will bring you words, wisdom and wit from a new guest columnist. I won’t spoil the party by announcing here the identity of my worthy successor/s, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading his/her/their regular observations on life, in and around the world of bridging.
In departing, I could take the lazy option and simply recapitulate on the events of the past year and a bit. There’s certainly plenty to choose from, but I’m not going to do it. Instead, let me leave you with this slightly uneasy and possibly controversial thought: bridging has an image problem.
I speak from an outsider’s perspective. From there we’re seen – if we’re seen at all – as a peripheral activity and one that’s little and improperly understood. For many, bridging is still ‘lending of last resort’, the refuge of scoundrels and to be compared with that other denizen of short term lending… the pay-day loan.
We know differently, of course, but it’s not necessarily our view that counts. And no matter how many ‘white knights’ ride to the rescue, no single firm or individual alone will change a perception that is as wrong as it is unwarranted.
That isn’t to say bridging is perfect, because it clearly isn’t. Nor is it a panacea for the lending drought inflicted by the banks following an era of incompetence, greed and crass stupidity. But bridging also hasn’t nearly destroyed the domestic economy; nor has it swindled, diddled and cheated customers on an industrial scale.
If we’re to challenge and shift successfully the negative perception many hold of us, it will be through a concerted and united effort. For this we need a coherent voice. That’s why we have trade bodies. But does it matter anyway?
I believe profoundly that it does. Not for PR or self-promoting reasons, but because bridging deserves recognition as an important and fully-functioning part of the lending landscape; and to help ensure we receive fair, equitable and proportionate treatment from the increasingly-active and interventionist regulatory authorities.
Through our trade bodies, we can help shape the agenda and so determine our future. There’s a great deal at stake here. The banks won’t be as helpful to us as they are now for ever, but the opportunity exists for the best bridgers to cement long term, fruitful relationships with their partners and clients - that both transcends and complements the old-style, one dimensional customer-bank relationship. To do so, however, requires we carry with us more than just a thin veneer of respectability.
The lenders’ trade association, the astl, is making fair progress in this regard. However – and as I’ve remarked on many previous occasions – any trade body is only as strong or effective as its membership allows. As a starting point all reputable, responsible and concerned lenders should sign-up and get involved. This is not a dig at any one particular lender – we’re all free to make choices – but a personal and strongly-held view based on years of business experience.
A good chance to showcase the progress we’ve made as an industry comes in the autumn, when the astl will hold its inaugural conference. We should extend far and wide invitations to the media, regulators, law-makers and opinion-formers. We’ve nothing to hide and plenty to be proud of, so let’s start telling the wider world – and not just ourselves – that we’re here to stay and have something very positive to offer.
I now take my leave of you. It remains only to wish my successor/s well and to say a huge ‘thank you’ to B&C for providing me with this unique platform for so long. My blogging career isn’t completely at an end as I’ll continue penning a regular feature for the Omni Capital website and LinkedIn page. Drop by sometime and say hello. You’re always welcome.
B&C would like to thank Martin for his insightful blogs over the past 15 months and we wish him luck with his new blogging.
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