December 2019
By Guy Harrington, Founder & CEO at Glenhawk
My main hope for 2020 (other than never hearing the word Brexit ever again!), is to have a vague sense of optimism that 2020 will be a stable year. I think we should experience modest growth, albeit not interstellar, but it should be a good year to build on the foundations we have put in place this year and the £100m we have lent in the last 19 months. I am quietly confident that we could lend another £100m in 2020.
This year has certainly been one of the most turbulent in my experience, with the macro political landscape we have been up against. In being a relatively new business, it has fortunately not deterred but cemented a lot of the core values I built the business on however.
From day one, I have always been incredibly committed to being an ethical lender, especially regarding fees. We have endeavoured to charge our clients the absolute minimal where possible, including no admin or exit fees and while doing this, for a second year running we have made no capital losses.
I think working collaboratively with our borrowers throughout the whole loan process has also helped contribute to this; I think it is incredibly important to work closely together to anticipate problems before they arise. We aim to offer flexible products, while always being as fair as possible too which has helped.
More generally on the market, the alternative finance sector this year has definitely smartened up; it is the most professional I have known it. As a bridging lender, at Glenhawk we have always looked how we can emulate large institutions in their processes and practices; this in turn naturally mitigates risk and makes the sector a more attractive proposition. We are being approached almost on a weekly basis for investment opportunities which is a really positive sign and I expect it to continue in 2020.
I really expect continued growth in short term finance as long as clients demand speed and quality which the banks naturally struggle with. This year has also seen a rise in the consolidation of challenger banks. With the number of lenders shrinking, it naturally creates more opportunity for us when there is less choice, which we shall strive to optimise on next year.
We currently lend across the whole of England and Wales with a focus on the South and West primarily. As a lender and also in my development work, we are expecting to see growth in the high value prime central market. With the government’s pledge to invest in the North too, I think we could see this growth expand into new Northern territories now also. The North is certainly an area to watch out for to bring new opportunities.
On a more micro level, I have continued to invest in a very experienced team this year all of whom bring their expertise and knowledge to the table in different ways. I truly believe intellectual capital allows you to be confident even in uncertain times. On the back of this, one of the most interesting areas I did not expect to be so invested in at this stage of having a new business is employee wellbeing; mainly the returns you get from happy staff. We have a number of initiatives, with our latest recently launched called ‘think days’, where employees are encouraged to take an additional day leave for self-renewal. I am really excited to see how it benefits the team.
My final take away lesson is most certainly is worry less - based on this year, things will always work out better than you think!