60 seconds with - Hugh Wade-Jones, director Enness Private Clients

6 February 2012 | By Samuel Dale

What is a high net worth client?

We class it as anyone borrowing more than £500,000. Quite often a mortgage is just one of a number of investments so banks need an understanding that goes wider than just grasping a standalone mortgage proposition. Increasingly, it is classed at over £1m borrowing by private banks but we still deem it at half that amount.

How is the high net worth market performing?

January is usually a busy period for us because bonuses are awarded in the City. It is a London-centric market but there are pockets of Surrey and some areas of the Midlands and the North where there is demand. We have done lots of deals with foreigners buying in London because of the strength of the market and the volatility abroad in places such as Italy, Greece and the Middle East.

What did you make of the Mortgage Market Review proposals for the high net worth sector?

Usually these reports are criticised but I thought it was spot-on for our sector. There is a need to treat it differently because lending criteria and rates are rigid at some banks. The nature of high net worth clients, especially those who are employed, means they have wages paid in bonuses and stocks. For the self-employed, anyone running a successful company will run it as tax efficiently as possible and seek payment in stocks and shares as well.

Will the bridging boom last?

It does seem like every man and his dog is setting up as a bridging lender at the moment so I would be surprised if many of the new firms are around long term, but the established players will be. It’s similar to a funeral director in that it is necessary so it will be needed even when the market is doing well.

If you could have three people round to dinner, dead or alive, who would they be?

Mohammad Ali - he’d be cool, Jesus Christ - I could ask him a few questions, and Henry VIII for a bit of a craic.

Do you have any secret talents?

Not really but I’m aiming to run the London marathon in April in two hours 55 minutes.

What book are you reading?

Ultra Marathon Man - Confessions of an all-night runner by Dean Karnazes. He’s the world’s premier ultra-marathon runner and it’s rather inspiring stuff.

Interview by Samuel Dale

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