Valuation and legal aspects were also considered, as well as the greater deal of risk involved for providers when it comes to bigger transactions.

Caron Schreuder, managing director at Medianett Publishing and Sally Precious Ward, business development manager for commercial finance in the South West at Together, were joined by expert panellists Andrew Murdoch, valuation panel director at VAS Group; Conor Holahan, commercial and BTL underwriter at Enterprise Finance; Timothy Leigh, partner at Priority Law; Haydn Thomas, chief commercial officer at Cornerstone Finance; and Jordan Moore, property finance consultant at Propp.

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First on the agenda was to define what a large loan actually is. “I wouldn’t say there’s a specific industry standard,” Sally said. “It can be to do with value — for example, something over £1m — but it could be less than that but slightly more complex [with regard to the] security. It could be a multitude of lower-value properties; while it might not accumulate as much, it would still be treated as a larger transaction due to the nature of its makeup.”

Andrew echoed this from a valuation perspective. “When we’re asked to provide a quote, we’ll ask for the estimated value. Generally, from the surveying market, larger transactions are classed as £5m and above, and they tend to involve better quality assets.” 

He also highlighted that speed is usually of the essence with this type of deal. “At the moment, we’re seeing a lot of challenges around valuer turnaround time and timescales,” Andrew stated. “For us, it’s about approaching the right valuer who is going to ask the right questions and who is going to perform.”

The conversation turned to technological advancements speeding up the communication process, and great arguments were made for streamlining certain elements so that people can focus on more complex aspects. One thing the panellists were able to agree on unanimously was that communication was vital. 

“In the bridging market, when you see a valuation quote come back where the valuer is not available for four weeks... that’s not a lot of use to us,” Haydn remarked. “Covid is usually the excuse, but we’re a couple of years on from that, so it’s definitely a worrying point for us.”

Timothy added that there wasn’t any real reason for a transaction to take longer, despite how complicated, if the parties involved were communicative. “The deals that we see go smoothly are the ones where you’ve got a good relationship with the solicitor, they’re responsive, and have got the resources and capacity to deal with something quickly — regardless of whether it’s a big or small loan.”

This point certainly resonated with the other panellists. “We’re all working [towards] the same purpose,” Sally emphasised. “We’re all working for that client and want the same information in some way, shape or form. Andrew wants the income to assess the affordability on the valuation piece, and the broker needs it in order to be able to give the advice to make sure they are recommending the right person.”

“A good old-fashioned phone call can be vital,” Andrew affirmed. “If there are certain nuances or subtleties to a valuation, or a property that the valuer needs to take into account, we can have that conversation. We can happily pass that message on.”

“It’s pulling together all the interested parties and helping our clients manoeuvre the finance geography,” Haydn concurred. “We’re there to pull everything together as the conductor of an orchestra.”

The final word belonged to Sally: “People are pushing for speed, but it’s understanding what you need from that speed. Together is a very experienced lender in the specialist market and is well known for [how fast] we can conduct a transaction . . . but it is reliant upon having a broker that is on top of things and getting the details from the client, it’s about the valuer being able to do the transaction within the timescale required, and it’s about the solicitors being on board. We need all these experts and everybody to be working in cohesion with each other to be able to get the right outcome.”

The full virtual roundtable can be watched, below: