Tick-box. Standard issue. Run-of-the-mill.

For a lot of my clients, their professional lives don’t end at the UK’s border. They'll earn in international currencies, own international property, lead international lives. A client of mine is a partner for a Private Equity house. She’s made a career out of spotting and funding success. That career has taken her around the world and, like many industries, a career in private equity comes with its own complications. Based in London, my client has property around the world and earns in pounds, dollars and euros. Even the best-oiled machine will struggle if a few grains of sand get in. For my client, success means leading a frictionless life. That’s where we help.

Here at Investec, we have a lot of experience working with Private Equity professionals. We know their world well and my team are dealing a lot with them. But this case goes deeper. My client’s global life demands banking that doesn’t just keep up but helps her stay ahead. That means making payments internationally and hedging currency, along with day-to-day banking, to make life as frictionless as possible. Sometimes keeping the engine ticking over is the most valuable service we can offer.

A client of mine works in property, his wife’s an entrepreneur. They’re young, ambitious and they want to buy a family home south of London. They find their ideal property. But there’s another interested party and the seller has just one rule: the house will go to whoever can exchange contracts first. The other buyer has been working on this for months. Pretty ordinary for a mortgage. For my client to catch up he’s going to need more than ‘ordinary’. It’s the evening of Tuesday the 26th of February, and he gets in touch with Investec. If he wants the house, he’s got just seven days. And he wants this house.

Wednesday morning, 9am. Our work really starts. The client’s prepped already – he’s not letting a missing document stop him. Now it’s down to us. The loan’s approved by credit on Friday afternoon, the property is valued over the weekend. 72 hours left. On Wednesday, the legals are finalised. The offer’s in and contracts are exchanged on the spot. Just 20 minutes separate my client from the other buyer. Success and failure, separated by the time it takes to finish a coffee.

Saying goodbye to a paycheck. It’s a moment every business founder goes through. Yes, they might take a token salary, but their personal worth is tied up in their company. They succeed when their business succeeds. A client of ours co-founded and runs a watch company. He’s also looking for a new home for his family in a fast-changing housing market. While some home buyers are feeling skittish, our client sees an opening. He’s found the right property at the right price, but he needs to move quickly. Opportunity doesn’t linger. There’s one snag. His current home’s on the market, but it won’t sell in time to finance the new purchase. He comes to Investec Private Bank.

Securing the property isn’t going to be easy. It takes a bridging loan charged over the existing home and two other properties. To justify the loan size, we looked beyond salary, at our client’s share in the business, its estimated value and recent performance. This was certainly no ordinary lending deal. But entrepreneurs are no ordinary homeowners. For my client, the sale is completed within a few weeks. This is one opportunity that didn’t get away. You could say it ran like clockwork.