Structured Finance & Capital

Beyond conventional business finance.

My value in this area comes from the position I occupy, the direct access I have to relevant people, the key partners I work with and the judgement to open the right doors in the right order. I bring these together around the client’s starting position, the difficulties they face and what they want to achieve.

Structured finance and wholesale banking can be unfamiliar territory. Some people arrive having pursued substantial returns or funding opportunities, only to encounter repeated introductions, changing requirements and transactions that never materialise. Time, money and confidence have been spent with little to show for it.

Others encounter these possibilities for the first time and find them difficult to assess. Unfamiliar language and ambitious claims can make the whole area seem too good to be true. The practical question is which proposals can withstand scrutiny and offer a credible route towards the client’s objective.

Position, access and sequence matter.

My relationships include monetisers, lawyers, private banks, family and sovereign offices, trading desks and key partners across the wider finance and advisory landscape. My position gives me direct access to these people, allowing me to understand their requirements, assess the relevance of a proposal and establish whether there is a basis for moving forward.

Knowing whom to approach is part of that. Knowing when to approach them, what must already be in place and how their involvement connects with the next stage is equally significant. An introduction made before the proposition is ready can lead nowhere.

My role is to understand the whole position and use that access with purpose.

The starting point may involve cash, standby letters of credit, medium-term notes, bank guarantees or securities such as corporate bonds, gilts and US Treasuries. Each requires its own assessment. Ownership, terms, restrictions and the requirements of the proposed counterparties determine what may be possible.

The scope for a useful structure depends on those details. An instrument’s name alone does not establish that it can be financed, monetised or used in a particular transaction.

Making the pieces fit.

I think of this as a jigsaw. The client brings a particular combination of resources, assets, commitments, constraints and ambitions. My position gives me direct access to people and potential routes that can help complete the picture.

The work is in establishing which pieces belong together, what is missing and the order in which each part needs to be brought into place. That can mean preparing the commercial proposition, involving legal expertise, clarifying a counterparty’s requirements or reconsidering the proposed structure before taking it further.

The objective could be funding a project, releasing liquidity or making better use of an existing position. The route must make sense for that client, including the costs, risks, obligations and practical steps involved.

Bring the position you are in and the outcome you are seeking.

From there, I can assess where my direct access, relationships and key partners may help, which doors are relevant and what needs to happen before each one is opened.

AI, Software & Business Intelligence

Start with the business problem. Build the technology around it.

My value in this area comes from understanding how a business works, recognising where its parts fail to connect and designing a practical way forward. I bring commercial judgement, systems thinking and hands-on development together around what the business needs to achieve.

AI has become the current buzzword. Business owners face a stream of products, promises and people selling solutions. It can be difficult to judge what is useful, what duplicates something already in place and what would require substantial change to deliver any value.

The important questions are what the technology will do, how it will be applied and where it belongs within the business. It may work alongside existing people and systems, replace a particular task, connect fragmented information or open the door to something entirely new.

Understand the operation before choosing the solution.

A business may already hold the information it needs, scattered across spreadsheets, emails, software and people’s heads. Staff repeat work, follow-ups get missed and the owner becomes the person through whom everything must pass.

Buying another application can add another layer to that complexity.

I start by examining how work moves through the business: where information enters, who needs it, what decisions follow and where responsibility sits. That helps establish what should be retained, improved, connected or replaced.

The answer may involve making better use of existing software, simplifying a process, connecting systems or building a tailored application. AI should have a defined role within that design, with a clear reason for its inclusion.

Apply intelligence where it makes a difference.

There may be value in using AI to organise incoming information, assist research, identify patterns, prepare material or support decisions. Other tasks may be handled more effectively through straightforward software and automation.

The design needs to establish what can happen automatically, what requires review and who remains responsible. Data quality, confidentiality, reliability and the consequences of an incorrect output all influence how a system should operate.

My role is to assess these choices in their commercial context and help turn the useful ones into something workable. The effort and cost of implementation, ongoing maintenance and the people using the system are part of that assessment.

Turn information into useful action.

Business intelligence should help answer the questions that matter: What needs attention? Where are opportunities being missed? Which relationships could be relevant? What is changing, and what should happen next?

That could mean giving a leadership team a clearer view of performance, connecting client information with follow-up activity or making knowledge available to the people who need it.

The value comes through clearer decisions, timely action and stronger control over the business.

Create new possibilities.

This work can also begin with an opportunity: an underserved market, a missing service or a better way to connect people, information and transactions.

I help shape how that opportunity could operate as a business. That includes the service itself, the customer experience, the revenue model and the processes and systems needed to deliver it. Software and AI can form part of the infrastructure that makes the proposition possible.

From there, the work moves into building, testing and refining, bringing in specialist capability where required and learning from actual use.

What should your business be able to do that it cannot do effectively today?

That is a useful starting point. We can then establish what needs to change, where technology can add value and how to bring the solution into everyday operation.

My business is growing but becoming harder to control. Why?

Growth is not always evidence that a business is becoming stronger.

More orders, more staff and higher turnover can look like success while the business becomes increasingly difficult to run. Decisions queue at the owner’s door. Customers chase updates. People work harder, yet deadlines slip and cash feels tighter.

One possibility is that the business has outgrown the way it operates. The informal arrangements that worked with a small team may no longer give people the information, authority or support they need.

Find where control is being lost.

I start by looking at the journey from enquiry to delivery and payment. Where does work wait? Where is information entered twice? Who can approve a decision? Which problems repeatedly come back to the owner?

Those questions help distinguish a capacity problem from a structural one. Another employee may help an overloaded team, but an unclear handover or conflicting priorities will still need resolving.

It is also important to look beneath turnover. Which customers and activities contribute worthwhile margin after the cost of delivery, rework and support? How long does it take for completed work to become cash? Growth needs to be understood through those details.

Give people the authority to deliver.

Delegation works when the outcome, responsibility and limits of authority are clear. Someone needs to own each important stage, know what a good result looks like and understand when an issue should be escalated.

A short, consistent review of workload, delivery, cash and exceptions can make problems visible while there is still time to act. The information should lead to decisions and named actions, rather than another report that nobody uses.

For example, repeated late deliveries may begin with promises made during the sales process. Reviewing scheduling alone would miss the point. Sales, operations and finance need a shared view of what can be delivered, at what cost and on which terms.

Build the structure for the next stage.

My experience of rapid growth and contraction shapes how I approach these situations. I look at the commercial model, the people, the information and the execution together, then identify the changes with the greatest practical effect.

That may involve clarifying responsibilities, changing pricing, tightening the acceptance of new work, improving systems or bringing in management capability. The sequence matters: resolve the immediate pressure while building a way of operating that can support further growth.

Where does the business still depend on you personally?

That is often a useful place to begin. Understanding those dependencies can reveal what needs to change so that growth becomes more manageable, profitable and sustainable.

What options exist beyond conventional business finance?

The funding route should fit the commercial purpose.

A business may have a credible opportunity and still struggle to fit the requirements of its usual bank. That raises a useful question: is the obstacle the funding source, the proposed structure or the readiness of the business itself?

Before looking further afield, I want to understand what the capital must achieve, how much is needed, when it is needed and what will support repayment or an investor’s return. The answer shapes which conversations are worth having.

Start with the requirement.

Funding equipment, bridging a payment gap and developing a new venture are different requirements. Treating them as one general request for money can obscure the strongest part of the proposition.

There may also be scope to reduce the requirement through staged delivery, better payment terms or a different commercial arrangement. Those possibilities deserve attention alongside external funding.

Consider the available routes.

Depending on the circumstances, the discussion may include specialist lending, finance linked to assets or receivables, equity investment or a commercial joint venture. Each brings different expectations around cost, security, ownership, control and timing.

For a business waiting to be paid by business customers, invoice finance can provide access to part of the value of eligible unpaid invoices. Availability depends on the provider’s assessment and the quality of the receivables. Fees, customer arrangements and obligations if an invoice is unpaid need to be understood. British Business Bank: invoice finance explained.

Equity introduces an ownership relationship, so the choice of investor and the agreed rights matter as well as the amount raised. A commercial partner may bring capability, customers or infrastructure alongside capital. The fit between the parties becomes part of the proposition.

For more complex circumstances, structured finance and wholesale banking relationships may warrant exploration. The underlying assets, transaction terms, counterparties and documentation determine whether a proposed route is workable. The existence of an instrument or an introduction does not establish that funding will follow.

Prepare before opening doors.

My role is to bring the commercial position into focus and assess where my direct access, relationships and key partners may help. That includes identifying what needs to be clarified before an approach and involving the relevant expertise in the right order.

A useful funding proposition explains the use of funds, the assumptions behind the numbers, the risks and the evidence supporting the plan. It should also show what happens if trading is slower, costs rise or delivery takes longer than expected.

The terms need to work beyond the day the money arrives. Repayment commitments, guarantees, security, ownership rights and exit arrangements can materially affect the business later.

What must the funding enable?

Bring the objective and the current position. From there, we can assess the preparation required and which routes merit a serious conversation. The aim is a structure the business can use productively and live with over time.

Should we buy software, automate the process or build our own?

Choose around the work the business needs to perform.

A business needs a better way to manage enquiries, coordinate delivery or make information available. The next conversation quickly becomes about software: buy a package, automate the existing process or commission a new system?

I begin by defining the work. What should happen, who needs to do it, what information is required and how will we know the result is better? Those answers provide a basis for assessing the options.

Understand the process first.

Take an enquiry that arrives by email, is copied into a spreadsheet and is then passed between several people. The problem may include missing information, unclear ownership and no agreed follow-up.

Automating the copying could save time, but responsibility and the next action still need to be designed. Once the process is clear, it becomes easier to see what technology should support.

Buy where the fit is strong.

An existing product is worth considering where it handles the essential requirements well and the business can work sensibly within its structure. I would assess it using real tasks and representative data, including the awkward cases that a demonstration may leave out.

The assessment should cover implementation, training, integration, ongoing charges and the ability to retrieve your information if you later move. A low starting price is only one part of the decision.

Automate work that is understood.

Automation is a candidate where a task repeats and its rules can be described clearly. The design should include exceptions: incomplete information, duplicate records, failed transfers and situations requiring a person’s decision.

AI may support tasks involving less structured material, such as helping organise incoming documents or preparing a draft for review. Its role needs clear boundaries, suitable data access and a way to check the result. Some tasks are better served by simple, predictable rules.

Build where the difference matters.

A tailored system may deserve consideration where the workflow is distinctive, existing products leave a substantial gap or the system itself supports a new service or commercial advantage.

The commitment includes maintaining it, protecting the data, documenting how it works and ensuring someone can support it. I favour beginning with a useful, bounded part of the operation, testing it with the people who will use it and extending it on the strength of that experience.

Buying, automation and custom development can also work together. A standard system may remain at the core, with targeted connections or a tailored interface addressing a specific gap.

Make the decision commercially.

My role is to connect the operational requirement with the design and delivery of a workable solution. The test is whether it improves the business sufficiently to justify the cost, disruption and ongoing responsibility.

Start with one important task that currently creates friction. Map it, define the outcome and assess the options against that same requirement. That gives the technology decision a practical foundation.