Weren’t interest rates supposed to be falling by now? Certainly, that was the view of many globally around the end of last year, but sadly inflation has just been too difficult to get out of the system. It looks like we may finally be making progress, and the most interesting bit of data from last week was, in my view, retailer Next saying inflation is falling fast in their supply chain.

I think most asset finance firms, and lenders in general, have been pleased with the resilience of their lending book. Certainly, the uptick in hiring within collections and recoveries teams hasn’t materialised. A great piece of research from Sirius Property Finance highlighted that asset finance has seen a 9.7% annual increase, as firms look to the future without wanting to put down lump sums on new equipment. It’s actually an amazing indictment of the robustness of the UK economy. Also, the UK lending environment seems to be operating in the way the regulators intended it to and has been robust, even when rates have risen dramatically.

Nobody is saying it’s easy. Construction is going through a tough time as an example. However, the demand for skilled underwriters and BDMs with relationships never seems to diminish too much. However, uncertain times act as a reminder to us all to keep our skills fresh, to take on as many different responsibilities as we can, and to embrace change. In my experience, every firm emerges from a slowdown different than the way they went into it, whether it’s improvements to service or a more laser-like focus on the type of business they want to be writing.

Our advice to leaders is to keep on investing in your team’s development, because when the upturn comes you don’t want to lose your best people due to boredom.