The Intermediary – February 2026 - Flipbook - Page 21
Q&A
there’s a few categories there where the bespoke
specialist underwriting is required. As well as this,
there’s a lot more complex remuneration models
for self-employed clients.
How do today’s high-value clients
differ from those of five or 10
years ago?
Today’s clients have more diversified income,
whether that be through partnerships, corporate
dividends, or the way they’re paying themselves as
self-employed clients. Assets and portfolios aren’t
necessarily just traditional residential assets as
they once were.
A lot more property professionals are – as we’ve
said – diversifying their portfolio, so they need
a lender that can cut across both residential and
commercial assets and do so comfortably.
This is where we fit, and clients, especially
the experienced property professionals, require
that speed and ability to structure a deal with
an underwriter and the decision makers that are
sanctioning these loans. That’s exactly where
specialist lenders like us can help.
What are the most common
challenges brokers face with these
cases?
There’s a handful of challenges that brokers face
with the complex larger loans.
You’ve got the fact that, clients may have
multiple income streams and sources that don’t
fit your standard box ticking affordability models.
Various corporate structures – such as assets
within special purpose vehicles (SPVs), assets
within trusts, offshore entities – make things more
complex.
The ability to achieve finance at speed is also
sometimes a challenge for brokers, and that’s one
of the things that we’re going to try and correct in
the market with this offering. There’s also a lack
of clarity from lenders in the market, the clarity of
what they can do, how they can support a client,
when they can support a client.
How important is human
underwriting when assessing these
more nuanced cases?
It would be remiss of me to sit here and dismiss
technology and dismiss what it can do for
an application. New technology and artificial
intelligence (AI) can undoubtedly support
efficiency, but can it understand a client’s complex
income structure or complex shareholding and
ownership structure within their portfolio? I would
argue not.
The only people that can understand those
nuances are your experienced senior underwriters,
who exist to support the broker market with
these transactions.
I think with technology, it often forces deals
down to a ‘one size fits all’ type approach. This
definitely doesn’t fit in this larger loan space.
Therefore, the human element remains key,
especially in this market, and that’s how we plan to
support the broker community going forward.
Do you expect demand for larger
lending to continue beyond 2026?
We see it continuing to grow through 2026 and
beyond. Across the market as a whole, there’s been
a major shift towards specialist lending. That’s not
going to stop.
For more and more client types, as we’re seeing
with the larger loans that we’re bringing to market,
they’re now starting to fall into the specialist
lending category, and they require that specialist
lenders touch. Over the last three or four years,
especially, we’ve seen more and more selfemployed scenarios are becoming specialist, to the
point that self-employed clients probably aren’t
mainstream clients anymore.
The same goes for international buyers. There
probably was once a time where banks were
comfortable with that type of lend, but changes
in appetites have led us to international clients
requiring that specialist approach. That’s only
going to continue.
Looking at the wider strategy of the business,
Premier is part of our strategy to deliver deeper,
more tailored support for our brokers and to
cement our position as the leading specialist
lender for these larger complex transactions – as
well as continuing our position as the leading
specialist lender across our existing product range.
We hope to see a strong broker panel that
understands and values what we’ve brought to
market, faster turnaround on high value cases,
higher satisfaction from brokers and clients, and
naturally, a meaningful uplift in completions on
cases over a million.
And most importantly, we hope that Together,
through our Premier for Intermediaries
proposition, will earn a reputation for being the
lender that brokers want to come to – and have to
come to – for their large and complex funding.
February 2026 | The Intermediary
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