Adrian Sainsbury

Exporting or importing…read on…

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Fascinating and detailed analysis on what economically ails the UK - with a focus on housing, transportation and energy. Well worth reading

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There’s a sense of real optimism amongst our global banks clients, which is reflected in the results from this year’s FI Sentiment Survey.   2 in 3 are optimistic about the long-term outlook for the financial services sector, as well as the UK economy. More than 4 in 5 respondents at global banks say they view AI as an opportunity – with many already seeing the benefits in terms of productivity and efficiency.   Read the report below to get the full picture. #LloydsBankInstitutionalCoverage

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A fabulous day at the National Housing Federation’s Affordable Home Ownership conference yesterday, superbly organised and chaired by Amy Nettleton (Aster Group UK) and Helen Reddington MSc FCIH (Riverside). Thank you to Silvia Corradini-Silk, Nadia Tsoukala-Steggell and Chloë Rutter for making it happen. It was a pleasure to host a panel discussing how the private sector is helping to address development challenges in affordable housing.   Key takeaways from the panel:   Catherine Raynsford (The Hyde Group) put forward a compelling case for equity investment, setting out how Hyde's deals with M&G Investments have enabled the association to more than double its development outturn over the past three years whilst stabilising its credit rating despite the growing challenges and economic pressures weighing down on the sector's business plans. She also described how HAs can navigate the landscape when management is separated from ownership – and in Hyde’s case, how this has worked successfully long before the more recent equity deals, as they have managed homes on behalf of others for several years.   Stephen Teagle (Vistry Group) set out how private sector partners have already demonstrated their commitment to the resident journey in affordable housing, and how people matter just as much as profit. He called for development and finance colleagues to work more closely together on both sides of partnership arrangements to ensure alignment and shared understanding, and explained how Vistry strive for longer term outcomes beyond the immediate deal close.   Henrietta Podd (Allia C&C) explained how our sector is already in partnership with the private sector, with third party debt funding our business plans for several decades. She reinforced Catherine's point on business plan pressures, and how it is now the time to transition from a debt only model to diversified funding streams including equity. Henrietta described how optimising the risk reward paradigm at the outset is key, so all parties know the risks they are taking on and the returns associated with those risks – and how its incumbent on finance and treasury colleagues to explain these arrangements to credit rating agencies and other stakeholders to ensure that this de-risking is reflected in ratings. There is more to discuss as we continue to refine and develop how we work with the private sector - but there is now growing acceptance that our sector can only build new homes at the volume required if we start to think differently and look at new delivery models which go beyond traditional debt alone.

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