Steve Smith, head of sales at Mint Property Finance

'We have seen a number of lenders significantly reducing their lending appetite for development, commercial, and complex deals', says Steve Smith




B&C recently sat down with Steve Smith (pictured above) about his recent appointment as head of sales at Mint Property Finance, and his ambitions moving forward at the company.

According to Steve, lenders are in for tough times if they concentrate on quantity rather than quality business — and a move towards vanilla deals could significantly reduce options for borrowers.

“Challenging times abound for a number of less experienced lenders who are doubtlessly reaping what was sown in their desire to do any business rather than good business,” he said.

“Specifically, we have seen a number of lenders shedding or significantly reducing their lending appetite for development, commercial, and complex deals.

“This desire by our competitors for the more straightforward ‘vanilla’ bridging deals has meant that a great many property professionals have been left with fewer options.”

Read the full interview with Steve, below.

Why did you decide to join Mint Property Finance?
Any new role brings with it the opportunity to take on a fresh challenge and build a new team, and this was absolutely the case with Mint Property Finance.

However, it was Mint’s approach to building long-standing relationships with brokers and direct borrowers that particularly appealed.

A significant number of competitors focus on maximising the commercial return of the first transaction with any customer, meaning, in many cases, this is the only transaction.

What have you been focussing on since joining in May?
I have to say that the induction at Mint was one of the most thorough I’ve had the pleasure of being part of, the in-depth understanding I gained of each and every department within the business has helped me significantly as I have moved through my first few weeks and months.

I’ve also been spending time on the phone and on the road, sharing Mint’s products, services, and values to a wider audience, a message that has been very well received.

And finally, I’ve been working with Andrew [Lazare, director at Mint] and the rest of the senior team within the business to build the sales team, from the appointment of the experienced senior BDM  Simon Micklethwaite to the onboarding of our new sales support team member, it’s been an exciting time as we have honed our approach and integrated our processes into Mint’s systems and technologies.

How has Mint performed so far in 2023?
First and foremost, we are proud to remain firmly ‘open for business’, In a very challenging macro-economic environment with significant sector-specific headwinds, our robust and varied funding lines, coupled with our decade-long lending experience, have served us well.

Mint has performed well in terms of [completing our] largest loan size, speed of completion, enquiry volume, and value — as well as the performance of our loan book overall, particular highlights include our largest loan of £3m and our fastest loan completion of five days. H1 2023 saw a total 2,473 applications, an 8% increase year-on-year.

Our average loan term has grown slightly to one year, principally as a result of property sales taking longer to complete — now between five and six months — and our average loan value has continued to rise.

Our total number of delinquent loans remains very low and has barely increased over the course of 2023, despite the challenging economic conditions.

What have been the biggest trends you’ve noticed in the bridging space this year, in terms of types of cases, borrower profile, appetite, and lending criteria?
The first trend we’ve seen over the course of 2023 is that a number of lenders have either failed, stopped lending, and/or had significant challenges with the performance of loans in their existing loan book.

Challenging times abound for a number of less experienced lenders who are doubtlessly reaping what was sown in their desire to do any business rather than good business.

Specifically, we have seen a number of lenders shedding or significantly reducing their lending appetite for development, commercial, and complex deals, this desire by our competitors for the more straightforward ‘vanilla’ bridging deals has meant that a great many property professionals have been left with fewer options.

We continue to support the industry and spend a significant amount of time working with customers to structure deals where other lenders have declined an application.

Our desire to do the right thing in the face of reduced land values, downward property valuations, increasing labour and material costs, as well as varying GDVs, has meant we are increasingly the go-to option for the more complex deals alongside our usual ‘vanilla’ applications.

Average lending criteria has tightened with a number of our competitors, with first-time developers, applicants with adverse credit, foreign nationals, and those with a desire for second charges, falling foul in many cases.

[We have] a common-sense approach to the assessment of suitability of any would-be customer.  Borrower profile has consequently changed to reflect this, with seasoned property professionals weathering the challenges of 2023 courtesy of their experience, mixed assets, and property portfolios.

How do you expect the new proposition to be received by brokers?
Mint is fortunate to have very long-standing relationships with a significant number of brokers and direct borrowers, meaning we have been able to ‘test, learn and refine’ this new product proposition, as well as all associated communications, support materials, and internal processes, prior to today’s [16th October] launch.

All of this means we’re confident that that simplification of our product line-up will be well received with both existing and new brokers and direct borrowers, the standardisation of our offering will also ensure there is a concise and cohesive message at every touchpoint with Mint Property Finance.

From our website and BDMs to our marketing, product sheets, lending criteria, and underwriters, there is now an even more unified voice with regard to our approach to lending.

What lending targets do you have set out for the rest of 2023?
Our sales objectives for the rest of the year are simple: first, we want to continue to increase the enquiry levels into the business — our simplified product proposition is a significant enabler to this, as are our new appointments in the sales team here at Mint.

With a team of four spanning myself, a senior BDM in Simon Micklethwaite, a  second BDM, and sales support, we’re now not only able to take responsibility for certain geographic regions, we are also able to use the stratification of the team to our advantage. 

From speaking at, exhibiting, or attending key industry events, to sourcing new brokers and direct borrowers, servicing existing relationships, delivering fast, clear DIPs, and processing all applications with 100% accuracy, everyone knows their role and delivers it with energy, enthusiasm, and years of experience.

Second, we want to improve conversions across the full suite of applications, thus allowing us to even better service all would-be borrowers and, again, we’re confident that our streamlined product suite with its associated simpler lending criteria will aid us in this regard.

Third, we’re keen to continue to expand our routes to market, sourcing new brokers, onboarding other professional introducers, and sharing our message with an increasing number of direct borrowers are all on the agenda for the remainder of this year and into 2024.

What plans does mint have for the next 12 months in terms of teams and techs?
We will continue to recruit in line with growth, meaning that it’s likely that the headcount within our sales team and the business overall will continue to increase.

We are in the process of investing in a new IT system across the whole business, ensuring all team members have the very latest software and hardware to [offer] even better service our customers.

What opportunities and hurdles do you foresee in the bridging market in 2024, and how will mint prepare to support borrowers with these?
As we all know, the seasoned property professionals with experience, mixed assets, a portfolio, and some liquidity are well placed to make the most of the challenging economic circumstances that we know will pervade to the end of 2023.

Property investors and BTL landlords with ‘less wool on their back’ are currently feeling the pinch, which has already meant a significant number of residential properties are being offloaded, it’s precisely these auction purchases and medium-term development sites that have been snapped up by these experienced opportunists. 

We’re cautiously optimistic regarding 2024 and beyond, and we’re already seeing slight increases in auction activity that we’re hopeful will continue in the new year, mortgage rates will continue to reduce, and this will only fuel the reduction in stress test levels in the BTL market, which will only further fuel a recovery.

With inflation continuing to reduce, we’re confident we will be in a great position to pass this saving on to borrowers as we move into the new year.”

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